Man, celebrating the empty tomb was awesome! I hope everyone had an incredible weekend.
As I returned to the world of social media, I could not help but notice the overwhelming number of posts from "Christians" concerning many hot political topics! So I thought man I don't want to miss out on this frenzy let me find a catchy quote from Jesus concerning government and their agendas.
I was sure I would find scripture where Jesus commanded the Roman government to legislate His will. Furthermore I was sure I would find Jesus sending out His disciples to make a stand to defend their "God given rights!"
Turns out I didn't do much better than Peter when he would go fishing without Jesus. I got nothing!
It seemed that Jesus was far more concerned with His disciples loving people and fulfilling His purposes than He was any hot political topic of the day. I mean after all Jesus did know that the government would one day join forces with the good religious people and crucify Him right? So why not speak loud and proud against that government? Why wasn't He more concerned with the government?
There is more than one topic happening here, so let's break them down one at a time. First topic, "we need to speak up for our rights." Listen I am all for our American liberties and freedom! But should we become offensive and ruin any testimony we may have with the other side to defend our thinking? In fact, if I read the Gospels correctly the day I became a follower of Christ I denied myself and lost all of my rights. Unless of course I only read the Bible literally when it applies to the blessings I shall receive.
Ready? Marriage...oh no! Listen God's design for the institution of marriage has been under attack since the beginning of time! Why does homosexuality bother us more than adultery, lust, pornography, debt, and countless other atrocities that are tearing apart the institution of marriage? Why are we not storming Washington demanding legislation be written to prevent those attacks? I would suggest that it is because it is easier to call out a particular sin when we are not dealing with and wrestling with it ourselves. And the sin in our lives well, it's just issues we are working through we don't need Washington for them.
Now the above paragraph is circumstantial I know, and mostly fueled by my anger at ludicrous, hurtful, and barbaric comments from people claiming to LOVE JESUS AND OTHERS! So let's leave my ranting for a minute and get to facts.
Read Luke 6:27-42 in it's entirety because I am going to summarize...
"LOVE YOUR ENEMY" Now let me set one thing straight someone dealing with a homosexual lifestyle is not an enemy! However, if someone living in homosexuality read our fb posts, or our tweets, or overheard our conversations with our Christian friends it would not be far fetched for them to feel like our enemy. So with that explained remember LOVE?
What does love mean because we seem to have lost sight of that meaning as well. "Love is patient and KIND; love does not envy or boast; it is not ARROGANT or RUDE. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful..."
Now many are wanting to push back right now with we are not being rude we are just speaking the truth. I would suggest that our truth speaking is not in love. Here is why I would make such an audacious claim. Whenever we vent on any social media site or converse with our Christian friends about current topics, homosexual marriage, abortion, anything else that fires us up. We are pushing the very people who Christ is pursuing further away from the TRUTH!
Listen the 5 or 10% of the obnoxious outspoken agenda pushers and politicians don't give two hoots about our status updates. They don't care how many signatures are on our petitions or how many likes our posts have generated. The only audience we are reaching is an audience that doesn't have an agenda but may have real struggles and questions about life. Our truthful statements have achieved NOTHING except to create a larger separation between those living differently than us and a Savior who died for THEM.
Listen if we truly want to make a difference let's stop pushing people away and hurting people before we even give them a chance! Instead of posting our crazy abortion pictures, spend time showing a pregnant mother who is scared and confused that they really do have options. Step back for a minute put yourself in the shoes of a scared teenage girl. Is it possible that she hears the church condemning her first for becoming pregnant and then screaming at her that abortion is murder? Yet when she looks at the system and in the streets she sees kids that nobody wants to care for, and thinks there really are no options. Shouldn't that girl be the one pointing the finger and saying you know what your right it is murder but you and your country club have done nothing to help provide an alternative. And you certainly don't love me because I messed up and my life will never be as pretty as yours!
And while on the abortion topic, instead of posting our pictures that reminds the woman who deals with regret every single day of her life how awful we think she is, maybe we should be reaching out trying to get her to the God who LOVES her and wants to make her BRAND NEW! If we really feel the need to post a comment or picture regarding murder, a cross may be a more fitting display.
Jesus didn't command Caesar to legislate love, He commanded us to show the world His love! Maybe the solution is not in legislation, but in us leaving our comfortable bubbles and getting dirty! It's time for us to stop trying to clean everybody up, making them look like we think they need to look, and realize we just need to GET THEM TO THE SAVIOR!
And some of you are reading this thinking well if I don't speak up someone might be offended or think I am not a true Christ follower! LISTEN YOU WILL BE IN GOOD COMPANY THE RELIGIOUS WERE OFFENDED BY JESUS! THEY QUESTIONED HOW HE COULD TRULY BE GOD AND TRIED TO INSULT HIM BY CALLING HIM "A FRIEND OF SINNERS!'
Are you willing to actually make a difference by getting off the soap box and starting to love people? Listen God doesn't need us to make a radically offensive stand with our aggressive public displays! He needs us to radically love those who are not like us or Him. Follow the example of Jesus, He welcomed and loved those neglected by the religious system who were nothing like Him. And the most beautiful thing of all those who were nothing like Him, LIKED HIM! Can the same be said of us?
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Revival?...Awakening?...JESUS!!
Hello Friends!
I hope and pray that you are all experiencing an incredible Holy Week! I also trust that if you did something during the Lenten season, that God spoke to you and refreshed you! Sorry for the long absence! I started sharing some thoughts about my reading but then realized that the time I gained from a lack of FB was being eaten up writing!
I love the Gospels and reading about how Jesus taught, lived, and interacted with those He came in contact with during His time on earth. As I read the Gospels and took time to seek God I was burdened with some things going on in the name of Christ. I am going to crack open one today and save the other one for after we celebrate the EMPTY TOMB!
First, we don't need REVIVAL, we need JESUS!
I am writing this because I hope that some will read this and ponder some of the red flags I will present with the modern "revival or reawakening movement" and take caution! As I have spent time in the Gospels and listening to Jesus respond to people a huge gap has appeared. I believe that at large this movement is doing nothing but challenging unity and authority in the local church and presenting more legalism in the form of evangelism.
Red Flag 1- a disconnect from the local church! Many people I talk to connected to a movement or desiring revival are not connected in a local church. The reason they are not is because they are not satisfied with the workings of the local church. Unfortunately it seems as though they are casting judgment upon congregations based on their personal preference rather than an informed understanding of the structure as a whole. The Bible is the ultimate authority, if it's not in the Bible then it is your preference and you can't hold the church accountable to your personal convictions! If you are not serving in your local church you are not connected and probably have a very limited understanding of the actual ministry taking place! If there are things you don't like get involved, SERVE, get MESSY! It's not perfect and until Christ comes back it never will be because it is full of imperfect people JUST LIKE YOU! And the reality is there is far more ministry taking place that you can't see and don't hear about because you are not connected. Like people who are investing in their co-workers, or their neighbors, or visiting nursing homes or hospitals, just because it is not large crowds and abusive evangelism does not mean you have the option of discounting it! Jesus got personal and messy with 12. So why discount the many individuals that are part of the local church that quietly live their lives in the trenches faithfully reflecting the love of Christ to those in their immediate circles?
Number 2, these revival circles appear to be judging not loving! Every conversation I have starts with a criticism of the "sleeping" or "dead" people filling churches every week! Which I follow up with how do you know that, to which I get a response similar to "no fruit" or "no passion during worship." Even though they may have only attended a few times, and have no personal connection with anyone in the church. So again it comes back to them judging people whom they do not know because they are not publicly beating their chest and promoting all the "amazing" ministry they are doing? That seems rather dangerous. And they claim people are not passionate during worship because they are not jumping up and down and putting on a show for others to see? I am not sure when or how we began to think it was OK to judge a persons heart based on them not acting like us? And for the record I have never seen anyone in a still or quiet posture of reverence looking around to see if anyone was noticing them. That doesn't hold true with the others. And it would be foolish to require everyone to truly worship God from their hearts by acting the same way. After all God created people not drones. If you like to get crazy during worship great, do it before God and not man and don't require others to follow your heart!
Number 3, allowing experience to dictate truth and using experiences as the lens through which they process the Bible. Our experiences do not trump Biblical principles. There are many NEW teachings that lack Biblical context.They have come from someone reading a small portion of scripture removed from original context and applying that to an experience they have had in the past.This is most evident in revivalist leaders lack of a desire for any type of structured Biblical study. I am not a promoter of everything needs to be structured. However if there is no systematic studying of scripture there is no foundation or growth! There also is no truth to apply when examining the fruits of your "spirit led time." Every thought, vision, word, dream, "prophesy" should be weighed against the COMPLETE, infallible Word of God. Removing systematic studying of scripture and developing solid Bible knowledge removes all safety nets and will leave the church in shambles! This has been illustrated time and time again throughout history.
Number 4, the inability to constructively talk about their thoughts or teachings. In discussing differences I have not yet found a more defensive circle of people. They are speakers not listeners. Many conversations have been steam rolled by a formulated defense that has been programmed rather than a discussion around a topic. There appears to be a complete lack of submitting to authority unless it is in line with their current thoughts. We don't have to spend long shooting holes in this. There is a mystery to the Gospel, we don't have all the answers. So we should always be willing to discuss teachings and approaches openly and confidently knowing that iron sharpens iron.
And the final one at least for this post, the presence of legalism! They are introducing formulas for evangelism and methods and ways that need to be followed, it is nothing short of religion! They are hitting the streets, diners, buses, trains, anywhere they can get an audience. I have countless stories of people left in the wake of destruction from this hit and run evangelism. It's like the old cartoon of the flamboyant Christian helping (dragging) the elderly lady across a street that she never intended to cross. Jesus said make disciples not converts! A 3 minutes sermon to a forced audience that ends with the words "all you have to do" at best is creating a false sense of security. But more often than not is pushing people further from the Truth. Also, how is demanding that someone has an ailment that God wants to heal and then insisting that they allow you to pray for them compassionate or loving? Where is the Biblical example for this style of healing and compassion? And don't respond with Jesus healed everyone. Although very true the multitudes CAME TO HIM! He didn't have to force Himself upon them! Jesus sent the disciples to those who would welcome them!
In conclusion, if you are not willing to SERVE one, and get MESSY with one, then you will never reach the multitudes. Jesus laid aside divinity to enter humanity as a SERVANT! Instead of seeking revival seek Jesus. Instead of calling out the many be willing to get messy with one! Instead of pursuing your next experience pursue those far from God in your immediate circle of influence. Be willing to walk with them through the struggles of life. If you are not in it for the long haul, you not in it at all! If you are not serving one well you don't have the capacity to serve the multitudes and you need to lay aside the pride and repent! Seek Jesus not revival!
As you reflect on the Cross remember the true characteristics of a Savior who served! Celebrate the empty tomb, strive to reflect God's glory to those far from Him, humble yourself before the cross and experience this Easter season like never before!
I hope and pray that you are all experiencing an incredible Holy Week! I also trust that if you did something during the Lenten season, that God spoke to you and refreshed you! Sorry for the long absence! I started sharing some thoughts about my reading but then realized that the time I gained from a lack of FB was being eaten up writing!
I love the Gospels and reading about how Jesus taught, lived, and interacted with those He came in contact with during His time on earth. As I read the Gospels and took time to seek God I was burdened with some things going on in the name of Christ. I am going to crack open one today and save the other one for after we celebrate the EMPTY TOMB!
First, we don't need REVIVAL, we need JESUS!
I am writing this because I hope that some will read this and ponder some of the red flags I will present with the modern "revival or reawakening movement" and take caution! As I have spent time in the Gospels and listening to Jesus respond to people a huge gap has appeared. I believe that at large this movement is doing nothing but challenging unity and authority in the local church and presenting more legalism in the form of evangelism.
Red Flag 1- a disconnect from the local church! Many people I talk to connected to a movement or desiring revival are not connected in a local church. The reason they are not is because they are not satisfied with the workings of the local church. Unfortunately it seems as though they are casting judgment upon congregations based on their personal preference rather than an informed understanding of the structure as a whole. The Bible is the ultimate authority, if it's not in the Bible then it is your preference and you can't hold the church accountable to your personal convictions! If you are not serving in your local church you are not connected and probably have a very limited understanding of the actual ministry taking place! If there are things you don't like get involved, SERVE, get MESSY! It's not perfect and until Christ comes back it never will be because it is full of imperfect people JUST LIKE YOU! And the reality is there is far more ministry taking place that you can't see and don't hear about because you are not connected. Like people who are investing in their co-workers, or their neighbors, or visiting nursing homes or hospitals, just because it is not large crowds and abusive evangelism does not mean you have the option of discounting it! Jesus got personal and messy with 12. So why discount the many individuals that are part of the local church that quietly live their lives in the trenches faithfully reflecting the love of Christ to those in their immediate circles?
Number 2, these revival circles appear to be judging not loving! Every conversation I have starts with a criticism of the "sleeping" or "dead" people filling churches every week! Which I follow up with how do you know that, to which I get a response similar to "no fruit" or "no passion during worship." Even though they may have only attended a few times, and have no personal connection with anyone in the church. So again it comes back to them judging people whom they do not know because they are not publicly beating their chest and promoting all the "amazing" ministry they are doing? That seems rather dangerous. And they claim people are not passionate during worship because they are not jumping up and down and putting on a show for others to see? I am not sure when or how we began to think it was OK to judge a persons heart based on them not acting like us? And for the record I have never seen anyone in a still or quiet posture of reverence looking around to see if anyone was noticing them. That doesn't hold true with the others. And it would be foolish to require everyone to truly worship God from their hearts by acting the same way. After all God created people not drones. If you like to get crazy during worship great, do it before God and not man and don't require others to follow your heart!
Number 3, allowing experience to dictate truth and using experiences as the lens through which they process the Bible. Our experiences do not trump Biblical principles. There are many NEW teachings that lack Biblical context.They have come from someone reading a small portion of scripture removed from original context and applying that to an experience they have had in the past.This is most evident in revivalist leaders lack of a desire for any type of structured Biblical study. I am not a promoter of everything needs to be structured. However if there is no systematic studying of scripture there is no foundation or growth! There also is no truth to apply when examining the fruits of your "spirit led time." Every thought, vision, word, dream, "prophesy" should be weighed against the COMPLETE, infallible Word of God. Removing systematic studying of scripture and developing solid Bible knowledge removes all safety nets and will leave the church in shambles! This has been illustrated time and time again throughout history.
Number 4, the inability to constructively talk about their thoughts or teachings. In discussing differences I have not yet found a more defensive circle of people. They are speakers not listeners. Many conversations have been steam rolled by a formulated defense that has been programmed rather than a discussion around a topic. There appears to be a complete lack of submitting to authority unless it is in line with their current thoughts. We don't have to spend long shooting holes in this. There is a mystery to the Gospel, we don't have all the answers. So we should always be willing to discuss teachings and approaches openly and confidently knowing that iron sharpens iron.
And the final one at least for this post, the presence of legalism! They are introducing formulas for evangelism and methods and ways that need to be followed, it is nothing short of religion! They are hitting the streets, diners, buses, trains, anywhere they can get an audience. I have countless stories of people left in the wake of destruction from this hit and run evangelism. It's like the old cartoon of the flamboyant Christian helping (dragging) the elderly lady across a street that she never intended to cross. Jesus said make disciples not converts! A 3 minutes sermon to a forced audience that ends with the words "all you have to do" at best is creating a false sense of security. But more often than not is pushing people further from the Truth. Also, how is demanding that someone has an ailment that God wants to heal and then insisting that they allow you to pray for them compassionate or loving? Where is the Biblical example for this style of healing and compassion? And don't respond with Jesus healed everyone. Although very true the multitudes CAME TO HIM! He didn't have to force Himself upon them! Jesus sent the disciples to those who would welcome them!
In conclusion, if you are not willing to SERVE one, and get MESSY with one, then you will never reach the multitudes. Jesus laid aside divinity to enter humanity as a SERVANT! Instead of seeking revival seek Jesus. Instead of calling out the many be willing to get messy with one! Instead of pursuing your next experience pursue those far from God in your immediate circle of influence. Be willing to walk with them through the struggles of life. If you are not in it for the long haul, you not in it at all! If you are not serving one well you don't have the capacity to serve the multitudes and you need to lay aside the pride and repent! Seek Jesus not revival!
As you reflect on the Cross remember the true characteristics of a Savior who served! Celebrate the empty tomb, strive to reflect God's glory to those far from Him, humble yourself before the cross and experience this Easter season like never before!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Diversity...Death...Demonstation!
Day 5! Matthew 10-12
Matthew 10.
The Commissioned! Jesus turns twelve disciples into Apostles. The Greek word here is different, it is the plural form of apostolos, it is only found here in Matthew. It marks these 12 as special representatives of God, that Greek root appears no where else. These were Jesus' core, they were His leadership team.
Jesus sets the bar for healthy leadership! He shows us how to be build successful churches, businesses, and lives! Want to know if leadership is healthy in any organization? Look for diversity! Look at the 12 Jesus choose, fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, a doctor. Jesus built a team of men from different backgrounds, different occupations, different perspectives, why?
As Jesus sends them He says have no fear, for not even a single sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father. And are you not more valuable than a sparrow? God has an incredible love for us! And Jesus put this gem in the middle of verses talking about the great adversity that will come as a response to following Him. It will not be easy but we are not to worry.
Matthew 11.
Jesus still seems to have not discovered the teaching about the blessing of prosperity involved with being one of His followers. At the beginning of this chapter we see John the Baptist back on the scene. He finds himself in prison for not conforming to the ways of society (vs. 17) And from prison we see John now questioning Jesus. He says are you the one we were waiting for or should we expect another? Fair enough question, after all John was obedient. Jesus even said of John, of men born of women there is none greater. So why is he in prison and not out flourishing financially and in ministry?
Look at Jesus' response to John's question; the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raise up, and the poor have good news preached to them. Jesus quotes prophesy from Isaiah to John, saying that He is the great I AM. Interesting enough though Jesus lets out one, the prophesy that He will proclaim freedom to the captives.
Could Jesus be saying, I am still the great I am, even though your current situation is not going to change? In fact it not only is not going to change it's going to get worse! God absolutely will bless us, and He says He gives good gifts. But the fear would be that we have isolated those verses of promise to provide comfort for ourselves. How do you think John the Baptist would feel about some of our self help and self promotion mentalities that we have cast onto the Word?
Matthew 12
In Jesus' teaching about how a house divided can not stand we see Him make an impressive statement that demonstrates His authority. In verse 29,Jesus says "how can someone enter a strong man' house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?" Jesus is saying I was able expel the demons because I bound the strong man(Satan)! This started with Jesus' victory over Satan during the temptation in the wilderness that we read about earlier. Jesus demonstrated that Satan was powerless to prevent Him from proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and demonstrating the reality of its presence.
Happy reading!
Matthew 10.
The Commissioned! Jesus turns twelve disciples into Apostles. The Greek word here is different, it is the plural form of apostolos, it is only found here in Matthew. It marks these 12 as special representatives of God, that Greek root appears no where else. These were Jesus' core, they were His leadership team.
Jesus sets the bar for healthy leadership! He shows us how to be build successful churches, businesses, and lives! Want to know if leadership is healthy in any organization? Look for diversity! Look at the 12 Jesus choose, fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, a doctor. Jesus built a team of men from different backgrounds, different occupations, different perspectives, why?
As Jesus sends them He says have no fear, for not even a single sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father. And are you not more valuable than a sparrow? God has an incredible love for us! And Jesus put this gem in the middle of verses talking about the great adversity that will come as a response to following Him. It will not be easy but we are not to worry.
Matthew 11.
Jesus still seems to have not discovered the teaching about the blessing of prosperity involved with being one of His followers. At the beginning of this chapter we see John the Baptist back on the scene. He finds himself in prison for not conforming to the ways of society (vs. 17) And from prison we see John now questioning Jesus. He says are you the one we were waiting for or should we expect another? Fair enough question, after all John was obedient. Jesus even said of John, of men born of women there is none greater. So why is he in prison and not out flourishing financially and in ministry?
Look at Jesus' response to John's question; the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raise up, and the poor have good news preached to them. Jesus quotes prophesy from Isaiah to John, saying that He is the great I AM. Interesting enough though Jesus lets out one, the prophesy that He will proclaim freedom to the captives.
Could Jesus be saying, I am still the great I am, even though your current situation is not going to change? In fact it not only is not going to change it's going to get worse! God absolutely will bless us, and He says He gives good gifts. But the fear would be that we have isolated those verses of promise to provide comfort for ourselves. How do you think John the Baptist would feel about some of our self help and self promotion mentalities that we have cast onto the Word?
Matthew 12
In Jesus' teaching about how a house divided can not stand we see Him make an impressive statement that demonstrates His authority. In verse 29,Jesus says "how can someone enter a strong man' house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?" Jesus is saying I was able expel the demons because I bound the strong man(Satan)! This started with Jesus' victory over Satan during the temptation in the wilderness that we read about earlier. Jesus demonstrated that Satan was powerless to prevent Him from proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and demonstrating the reality of its presence.
Happy reading!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Huh...Help...Hooray!
Day 4! Matthew 8&9.
Huh? What did He say?
Man what happened to prosperity? Jesus apparently didn't know how to get people to follow Him, like we do today! If only He could have looked ahead 2000 years, He would have been able to speak a much clearer relevant message to the scribe and the disciple in Chapter 8:19-22..."Foxes have dens in which to sleep, and the birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head." Did Jesus really just tell the scribe that He was homeless? Certainly Jesus can not be implying that to follow Him may mean that the Scribe wouldn't even be guaranteed the most basic of daily comforts?
Then Jesus gets really bold as a disciples says, "Lord, first let me return home and bury my father." And Jesus told him, "Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead." Is Jesus saying that following Him could mean that our family is no longer the main priority of our existence?
What? For many that could be quite a shock! That doesn't exactly line up with some of the reasons we are encouraged to follow Jesus. I am glad that we are only at the beginning of these 4 books! There is plenty of time for Jesus to soften up with His demands for His followers! Keep reading!
HELP!
8:25- I love this text! It's encouraging to find out that I am not the only idiot with short term memory loss to follow Jesus. Think about all the we have read so far, and the disciples saw it all first hand, the miracles, the power of Jesus, how awesome that must have been. With that in mind look what happens the first time they face danger. They freak out like a bunch of Jr. high girls at a haunted house! They start yelling we are going to die. I love it. I am encouraged that I am not the only person who can in one moment be marveling at the awesomeness of God and in an instance lack any faith that things will work out!
Matthew 9
verse 11. We see Jesus ruffling the feathers of the Pharisees. The Pharisees see Jesus hanging out with sinners and question why He would associate with them. We know that the Pharisees would continue to struggle with this. I can't help but be curious how much of this was rooted in pride. I mean after all they were the good church people. They had devoted their life to the church shouldn't Jesus be rewarding them? Shouldn't He be spending His time with them in the temple. Surely this is not the Messiah because He is associating with people we have forbidden in our temples! If Jesus were to come in the form of a man today, where would we find Him?
HOORAY!!
We see a genuine response to meeting the Savior in verse 31. Jesus has just healed two blind men, and has told them not to tell anyone. "But when the men left, they told everyone in the area they met what had happened." These men illustrated that when you encounter Christ nothing is the same and you can't help but telling everyone about your encounter. We will see this again and again. You don't find anyone who had an encounter and went ssh, that's personal! It changed their lives and they talked about it!
When Jesus saw the crowds He had compassion on them! They seemed like lost sheep without a shepherd. Jesus was moved with compassion to act! He wants us to do the same, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send more workers into His harvest field." What would the impact be if we stopped simply praying for God to motivate and send other people and instead asked Him to fill OUR hearts with compassion and said send ME?
Huh? What did He say?
Man what happened to prosperity? Jesus apparently didn't know how to get people to follow Him, like we do today! If only He could have looked ahead 2000 years, He would have been able to speak a much clearer relevant message to the scribe and the disciple in Chapter 8:19-22..."Foxes have dens in which to sleep, and the birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head." Did Jesus really just tell the scribe that He was homeless? Certainly Jesus can not be implying that to follow Him may mean that the Scribe wouldn't even be guaranteed the most basic of daily comforts?
Then Jesus gets really bold as a disciples says, "Lord, first let me return home and bury my father." And Jesus told him, "Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead." Is Jesus saying that following Him could mean that our family is no longer the main priority of our existence?
What? For many that could be quite a shock! That doesn't exactly line up with some of the reasons we are encouraged to follow Jesus. I am glad that we are only at the beginning of these 4 books! There is plenty of time for Jesus to soften up with His demands for His followers! Keep reading!
HELP!
8:25- I love this text! It's encouraging to find out that I am not the only idiot with short term memory loss to follow Jesus. Think about all the we have read so far, and the disciples saw it all first hand, the miracles, the power of Jesus, how awesome that must have been. With that in mind look what happens the first time they face danger. They freak out like a bunch of Jr. high girls at a haunted house! They start yelling we are going to die. I love it. I am encouraged that I am not the only person who can in one moment be marveling at the awesomeness of God and in an instance lack any faith that things will work out!
Matthew 9
verse 11. We see Jesus ruffling the feathers of the Pharisees. The Pharisees see Jesus hanging out with sinners and question why He would associate with them. We know that the Pharisees would continue to struggle with this. I can't help but be curious how much of this was rooted in pride. I mean after all they were the good church people. They had devoted their life to the church shouldn't Jesus be rewarding them? Shouldn't He be spending His time with them in the temple. Surely this is not the Messiah because He is associating with people we have forbidden in our temples! If Jesus were to come in the form of a man today, where would we find Him?
HOORAY!!
We see a genuine response to meeting the Savior in verse 31. Jesus has just healed two blind men, and has told them not to tell anyone. "But when the men left, they told everyone in the area they met what had happened." These men illustrated that when you encounter Christ nothing is the same and you can't help but telling everyone about your encounter. We will see this again and again. You don't find anyone who had an encounter and went ssh, that's personal! It changed their lives and they talked about it!
When Jesus saw the crowds He had compassion on them! They seemed like lost sheep without a shepherd. Jesus was moved with compassion to act! He wants us to do the same, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send more workers into His harvest field." What would the impact be if we stopped simply praying for God to motivate and send other people and instead asked Him to fill OUR hearts with compassion and said send ME?
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Day 3...Culture...Pride
Day 3! Hopefully you are still reading along in the Gospels and considering what you are going to do differently for the remainder of the Lent season.
Today's reading is Matthew 5 thru 7. There is to much to talk about in this text,there is no way to do it justice in a few paragraphs. Here we have the greatest sermon ever preached! At this point Jesus has called His disciples and has been teaching, healing, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom and great crowds are now following Him. Chapter 5 picks up with Him seated on a mountain and beginning to teach.
Matthew 5
The sermon starts with 9 statements known as the Beatitudes. These short statements really summarize the nature of everything Jesus is going to say in the coming message. These statements would be similar to church handouts or bulletins. They highlight the heart behind the words that are going to follow.
Verses 13-16- Jesus refers to His followers as salt and light. For time sake I am not going to explain, but do a study on both salt and light. It is amazing what they do! They both literally change environments! We are not called to an existence of survival! We are to be vessels representing Christ's glory that can not help but change the environments around us!
Matthew 6
We see Jesus calling out the same cultural Christianity issues as John the Baptist. "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from you Father who is in heaven." Don't give to the needy in order to be seen, don't pray in order to be seen or heard by others. Righteousness occurs when you come into the presence of the Father, not through anything that man can offer!
We also get introduced to something Jesus will expound upon many times in future teachings and conversations! We see we can not be a slave to anything but Jesus, not money, not worry, nor anything else. Our heart will be where our treasure is found!
Matthew 7
Unfortunately it seems that Christians would just prefer to forget this text or use it way out of context! It seems we either want to have strong opinions about everything and judge everyone according to our standards. Or we want to say that we are not ever to evaluate or judge others and we defend ourselves with that. WHAT JESUS IS RULING OUT IS PRIDE, WE ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT VIEW OURSELVES AS BETTER THAN OTHERS!
And this sermon ends with a call that cultural Christianity and lip service are not what offers salvation! A verbal confession of Jesus as Lord does not always indicate a repentant heart! We need to be doers of the WORD!
Today's reading is Matthew 5 thru 7. There is to much to talk about in this text,there is no way to do it justice in a few paragraphs. Here we have the greatest sermon ever preached! At this point Jesus has called His disciples and has been teaching, healing, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom and great crowds are now following Him. Chapter 5 picks up with Him seated on a mountain and beginning to teach.
Matthew 5
The sermon starts with 9 statements known as the Beatitudes. These short statements really summarize the nature of everything Jesus is going to say in the coming message. These statements would be similar to church handouts or bulletins. They highlight the heart behind the words that are going to follow.
Verses 13-16- Jesus refers to His followers as salt and light. For time sake I am not going to explain, but do a study on both salt and light. It is amazing what they do! They both literally change environments! We are not called to an existence of survival! We are to be vessels representing Christ's glory that can not help but change the environments around us!
Matthew 6
We see Jesus calling out the same cultural Christianity issues as John the Baptist. "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from you Father who is in heaven." Don't give to the needy in order to be seen, don't pray in order to be seen or heard by others. Righteousness occurs when you come into the presence of the Father, not through anything that man can offer!
We also get introduced to something Jesus will expound upon many times in future teachings and conversations! We see we can not be a slave to anything but Jesus, not money, not worry, nor anything else. Our heart will be where our treasure is found!
Matthew 7
Unfortunately it seems that Christians would just prefer to forget this text or use it way out of context! It seems we either want to have strong opinions about everything and judge everyone according to our standards. Or we want to say that we are not ever to evaluate or judge others and we defend ourselves with that. WHAT JESUS IS RULING OUT IS PRIDE, WE ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT VIEW OURSELVES AS BETTER THAN OTHERS!
And this sermon ends with a call that cultural Christianity and lip service are not what offers salvation! A verbal confession of Jesus as Lord does not always indicate a repentant heart! We need to be doers of the WORD!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Day 2...Outcast...Savior
Day 2 of our Lenten reading through the Gospels in 40 days. Hopefully today you joined me in reading Matthew 3&4. One of my favorite men in the Bible is introduced in Matthew 3.
Matthew 3
In chapter 1 we saw that God uses the unlikely for His purposes. Again in chapter 3 we see God's handiwork in the life of an outcast, a rebel, simply put John the Baptist was one strange dude! He was all around eccentric. John wore the cloths of an outcast from a poor nomadic tribe. He rocked his camel hair clock and leather belt, and dined on such delicacies as locusts and honey! Here's the deal John was the man chosen by God to usher in the Messiah, and he fit none of the standards of society! John was not a deacon, an elder, an usher, or any other pew filler. John didn't own Sunday bests nor was he poetic and politically correct with his words.
In fact John called out cultural Christianity! He called those associated with the temple children of serpents! He drilled in on the fact that being a member of church meant nothing and attending church to be pleasing to God so you could avoid the coming wrath was asinine. John represented what Christ would call His followers to do, break free from humanity's call to comfort and status quo! John prepares the way for Jesus to challenge those who wanted to follow Him to confront their expectations and assumptions! It's a radical call!
Matthew 4
First of all we see Jesus fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. This corresponds with Israels experience of 40 years of testing in the wilderness. The difference Jesus endured His testing triumphantly and obediently. Here's the deal. How many times have you known where you needed to be, you knew what the future was going to hold and you looked for every short cut possible to get there? We are trained early on to take the path of least resistance and to pursue instant gratification. Look what Satan does in his last ditch effort to make the Messiah stumble, "the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, "all these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
Satan tries to give Jesus a shortcut to His future reign. This shortcut would allow Jesus to avoid all that would come on the cross. All He had to do was exchange the love of the father for the worship of Satan. All these I will give you was a lie. Often we want the shortcut or the easier path but it's all a lie. The only plan the will get us to our final destination is the plan laid out by the Creator of the Universe!
Also, Jesus can not simply be a good teacher, a good communicator, a prophet, or any other title that those who don't acknowledge Him as the ONLY WAY give! If He was just another religious man who walked the earth and did some pretty impressive teaching then He is also a liar. Jesus can not be both! He either was and is the one true God or He was a liar. Look what He says in Matthew 4:17 "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
God and the entire kingdom of heaven enters humanity in the person of Jesus! This is His first public proclamation of His identity and if it is not true than nothing that follows has any significance.
Matthew 3
In chapter 1 we saw that God uses the unlikely for His purposes. Again in chapter 3 we see God's handiwork in the life of an outcast, a rebel, simply put John the Baptist was one strange dude! He was all around eccentric. John wore the cloths of an outcast from a poor nomadic tribe. He rocked his camel hair clock and leather belt, and dined on such delicacies as locusts and honey! Here's the deal John was the man chosen by God to usher in the Messiah, and he fit none of the standards of society! John was not a deacon, an elder, an usher, or any other pew filler. John didn't own Sunday bests nor was he poetic and politically correct with his words.
In fact John called out cultural Christianity! He called those associated with the temple children of serpents! He drilled in on the fact that being a member of church meant nothing and attending church to be pleasing to God so you could avoid the coming wrath was asinine. John represented what Christ would call His followers to do, break free from humanity's call to comfort and status quo! John prepares the way for Jesus to challenge those who wanted to follow Him to confront their expectations and assumptions! It's a radical call!
Matthew 4
First of all we see Jesus fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. This corresponds with Israels experience of 40 years of testing in the wilderness. The difference Jesus endured His testing triumphantly and obediently. Here's the deal. How many times have you known where you needed to be, you knew what the future was going to hold and you looked for every short cut possible to get there? We are trained early on to take the path of least resistance and to pursue instant gratification. Look what Satan does in his last ditch effort to make the Messiah stumble, "the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, "all these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
Satan tries to give Jesus a shortcut to His future reign. This shortcut would allow Jesus to avoid all that would come on the cross. All He had to do was exchange the love of the father for the worship of Satan. All these I will give you was a lie. Often we want the shortcut or the easier path but it's all a lie. The only plan the will get us to our final destination is the plan laid out by the Creator of the Universe!
Also, Jesus can not simply be a good teacher, a good communicator, a prophet, or any other title that those who don't acknowledge Him as the ONLY WAY give! If He was just another religious man who walked the earth and did some pretty impressive teaching then He is also a liar. Jesus can not be both! He either was and is the one true God or He was a liar. Look what He says in Matthew 4:17 "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
God and the entire kingdom of heaven enters humanity in the person of Jesus! This is His first public proclamation of His identity and if it is not true than nothing that follows has any significance.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Lent...Facebook...Time
Hello Everyone!
As many of you know I have decided to give up Facebook during this Lent season. I did this to allow more time for things I feel really important! Jesus, family, and now writing! Starting today I am also reading through the Gospel's in 40 days. I believe for me and those who are partnering with me this will be an incredible season capped off by the remembrance of the death and burial of Christ! And then ultimately celebrating the resurrection! It's going to be epic!
So with all this free time, I plan one writing each day some of the things that I have learned or been fascinated by in the day's reading. They will be thoughts that have made me say WOW and hopefully they will do the same! Here we go;
Today's reading Matthew 1&2
Matthew 1
The beginning of this text is loaded with genealogy. While it may seem boring and the temptation is to just blow through it, it is utterly rich in giving us a glimpse at what Jesus is going to be about in His life. If you study some of the names here you will find adulterers, prostitutes, incest, and all kinds of other crazy stories. Many of the people listed here would make most church congregations highly uncomfortable if they decided to attend church and bless the pastor by sitting in the front row. And fascinating enough it's who God uses for the lineage of the Messiah! From the very beginning it was about the broken and messy!
Matthew 2
THE BIRTH OF THE SAVIOR! What an incredible story! Not much recap needed here, however I was reminded about all the prophecies and intricacies that exist in the Bible! It's absolutely amazing, it really is ALIVE! Today it was the gifts of the wise men that jumped out at me. We know they are good gifts but they are far more than that, they identify Jesus. Gold is what was given to kings; Jesus was the King of Kings, incense was what you would give to a priest, and Jesus was the High Priest of all high priest; myrrh ointment is used to heal, and Jesus is a healer. Myrrh was also used to embalm corpses- and Jesus was born to die!
And yet another fascinating fact. Jesus ended up in Nazareth being called a Nazarene. Nazarene means, "tender, green, or living branch." Jesus is the living Branch, the branch from David that extends the reach of the tree of Israel to us, foreigners and outsiders!
Hopefully you join me on this journey! I pray that the incredible stories come to life in your heart and that you become fascinated by the WORD!
As many of you know I have decided to give up Facebook during this Lent season. I did this to allow more time for things I feel really important! Jesus, family, and now writing! Starting today I am also reading through the Gospel's in 40 days. I believe for me and those who are partnering with me this will be an incredible season capped off by the remembrance of the death and burial of Christ! And then ultimately celebrating the resurrection! It's going to be epic!
So with all this free time, I plan one writing each day some of the things that I have learned or been fascinated by in the day's reading. They will be thoughts that have made me say WOW and hopefully they will do the same! Here we go;
Today's reading Matthew 1&2
Matthew 1
The beginning of this text is loaded with genealogy. While it may seem boring and the temptation is to just blow through it, it is utterly rich in giving us a glimpse at what Jesus is going to be about in His life. If you study some of the names here you will find adulterers, prostitutes, incest, and all kinds of other crazy stories. Many of the people listed here would make most church congregations highly uncomfortable if they decided to attend church and bless the pastor by sitting in the front row. And fascinating enough it's who God uses for the lineage of the Messiah! From the very beginning it was about the broken and messy!
Matthew 2
THE BIRTH OF THE SAVIOR! What an incredible story! Not much recap needed here, however I was reminded about all the prophecies and intricacies that exist in the Bible! It's absolutely amazing, it really is ALIVE! Today it was the gifts of the wise men that jumped out at me. We know they are good gifts but they are far more than that, they identify Jesus. Gold is what was given to kings; Jesus was the King of Kings, incense was what you would give to a priest, and Jesus was the High Priest of all high priest; myrrh ointment is used to heal, and Jesus is a healer. Myrrh was also used to embalm corpses- and Jesus was born to die!
And yet another fascinating fact. Jesus ended up in Nazareth being called a Nazarene. Nazarene means, "tender, green, or living branch." Jesus is the living Branch, the branch from David that extends the reach of the tree of Israel to us, foreigners and outsiders!
Hopefully you join me on this journey! I pray that the incredible stories come to life in your heart and that you become fascinated by the WORD!
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