Faith Divorced From Politics?

 Late last night, after the debate I started a Facebook riot.  I suspected it would ruffle feathers, but I was shocked at 70 comments in roughly 9.5 hours...much of them through the night.

  If you missed it, I said: "Pulling the faith card and calling oneself a pastor, admitting cult leadership of a pretty demonic sect wasn't so wise methinks"

What was strange to me was some of the evangelical response.  Some going as far to the question of "is it really a cult" or "how dare you call it a cult, I call you a cult leader" kind of stuff.  Some strong evangelicals like Billy and Franklin Graham have reversed their thoughts on Mormonism after one meeting with Romney (http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/16/billy-grahams-group-removes-mormon-cult-reference-from-website-after-romney-meeting/?hpt=hp_t2).

  In 2008 I was told as a second time voter to vote for the Faith.  I openly shared: I voted for Bush in 2004 but I think I'm leaning towards Obama in 2008 and my faith, as a Pastor was legitimately called into question on more than one occasion.

"OK", I thought "faith plays the pivotal role in the mainstream evangelical society and how I choose a candidate".  Only to find a schizophrenic change in 2012.  Now faith must be divorced from politics and the morals and values that a candidate stands on are the pivotal pieces for choice.

  I confess myself confused, utterly lost for words at some of the hypocritical shift I've seen with this.  I purposefully stayed pretty quiet (except for one post awhile back) and purposefully shut myself away from the political jargon only to find myself back in a fray of chaos.

  I think as evangelicals we can agree that neither candidate is the best pick for us (Does anyone else miss Bob Dole?).  The question we really need to wrestle with is: can our faith honestly be divorced from our political life?

  I think in many respects there are places where it should be but CAN it?

Sanctity of life- a faith issue for many
Sanctity of marriage- a faith issue for many
Taking care of the poor- a faith issue for many
War- a faith issue for many
Death penalty- a faith issue for many
Gun control- a faith issue for many

Most of our "hot button" items we back up with the justification of our faith and say these are our "moral standards based off of my interpretation of my beliefs".

I am not saying backing these issues with our faith is wrong.  They are all IMPORTANT topics to consider.  How can we then say that simply because a candidate is on board with our moral issues, yet is a cult leader it's all OK?

  I never meant to incite a "riot" with my statement, I really think we as evangelicals need to think through the implications.  Let's look at two of these issues with both candidates.

Sanctity of Life-
Obama = Pro Choice
Romney = Pro Choice UNTIL he began his run 2 years ago or so, now he's Pro Life

Sanctity of Marriage-
Obama = promotes the GLBT agenda for Gay marriage
Romney = Currently* opposes the GLBT agenda for Gay marriage

* I say currently because I sense a deep deception.  He is a Mormon and despite people's statements that only "fundamental Mormons" promote polygamy, Polygamy is a GIANT piece of ALL Mormon undertones.  It was a cornerstone of Joseph Smith's teachings because they would then populate their heaven (their own planet) with their loins and their wive(S) would help them populate it by eternal birth.  The more wives, the better the population.  IF Romney is so dedicated to the Mormon faith, I guarantee this will be brought up in his 4 years in office and he will probably have to "let other things happen" in order to get it approved (because it still is a Mormon belief and not just by the fundamentals...look at Sister Wives...they're not fundamentals!).  This was one of McCain's biggest fights against Obama and Romney doesn't use it hardly ever (if at all), why?  I think he's afraid to go there about "Sanctity of marriage" questions!

 I can belabor the point but I don't want to.  With this post, I'm not endorsing Obama, nor am I endorsing Romney, I'm simply trying to get a deeper conversation going that no one seems to want to have.  Does it matter that Romney is a Mormon?  If so, why? If not, why not?  Would it matter if he were Muslim?  If so, why?  If not, why not?

  In my opinion, we seem to be hanging our hats way too much on the moralism of it all and simply letting go things that would have frustrated us even just 4 years ago.

I wish Bob Dole were running...I stinking loved that guy!

Pray, seek, ask hard questions.  Don't just go with your first instinct.  I know I'm wrestling alongside of you.  This election for me is unclear, hard to see and very hard to choose between.  Some people would say: "Just choose the lesser of two evils" which is a nice statement...but which one is lesser in this situation?  Not such and easy answer!

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The Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a tough issue for many of us to deal with, whether we think so or not. Many relationships fail and falter due to unforgiveness. Bitterness finds its roots and food in unforgiveness, causing not just harm to the relationship it started in, but a deep root that effects the person withholding forgiveness.

  Recently we did a series on Forgiveness with our Middle School students where we had our leaders share their stories of unforgiveness, bitterness and ultimately the healing power of forgiveness.  It was powerful!

  The last week of the series, I shared my own story of pain and bitterness.  I shared how my parents divorce caused me to be angry at my mother for years.  I shared how in many ways the ways I was hurt by my family caused me to have deep rooted bitterness and all the while I had thought I was free because I thought I forgave...until I was hit by the truth of God.

  One Sunday Night, I was in a Bible study of sorts and the story of the unmerciful servant was being talked about.


“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.  And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.   So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’   And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.  But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’  So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.  When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.  Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’  And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.   So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:23-25 ESV)

  I shared the entire account here because it is a powerful message on forgiveness.  Taking a deeper look at the story that Sunday night I realized the disparity.  The first man owed so much, that he could never repay it.  It was a debt so high that to make any kind of recompense he, his wife, his house and his kids would need to be sold.  In fact, to earn simply 1 talent, an average person would have to work for about 20 years!  So, to pay off 10,000 talents is similar to billions of dollars.  


  The man begs for mercy and forgiveness and he receives it from the master.  One has to think: what did this guy do to owe so much and how in the world could the master forgive such a huge debt?  The master had pity and forgave.


  Then, the craziest thing happens...the man who was just forgiven, who just got to keep everything he was about to lose goes out and seeks payment from someone who owes him money.  He finds the guy and demands payment by choking him! This guy owes him the equivalent of no more than $100, and he's choking him.


  The man who owes begs with the same words the man now owed used to get his debt erased (which was MUCH higher remember).  The now free man doesn't accept the mans plea and throws him in jail...over $100!


  When all of the truth of this story hit me, I realized I was the wicked servant and I was holding a grudge over $100 when God had just forgiven me an unpayable debt!  I had a mountain of sin, a mountain of misdeeds, a mountain of brokenness that he has forgiven and I couldn't let go of some family brokenness.  I held my mom responsible and held it over her head for so long.  In that moment, I felt the Spirit nudge me to let it go, so forgive.  So, I listened...it wasn't easy.

  I had roots of bitterness in my life that caused me to be an angry, arrogant jerk of a person.  My unforgiveness gave the enemy a hold of my heart for years.  I struggle with forgiveness now, its not like I've conquered it...but I realize the absolute suffering that unforgiveness can bring.


  Who are you holding $100 over?  What sins have been committed against you that you haven't forgiven?  I know some of you reading this have far greater sins against you than others...but not forgiving gives that person and their sins power over you still!  God desires to free us, to set us free from the bondage we can get ensnared into...will you let him set you free?

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I'm Against That!

I know this comes as little surprise to many but it's been bothering me lately, so I'm going to share.

  The vast majority of Christians today are known more for what they are against than what they are for.  This to me, is in congruent with the Gospel of Jesus.

  Most airwaves with Christians on them are talking about what they are against.  They spout how this is wrong and that is wrong but give little to NO direction as to why they believe that.  What message does it spread to the world if all we talk about is how we are against all the bad stuff they do?  Does this message offer hope, or despair?  Does this message draw people into a relationship with Jesus or push them further away?

  I'm not saying it's bad to be against stuff, we have to make stands in our culture that will be frowned upon...however, what is the main drum we beat?  What dominates our books, radio stations and magazines?  Is it the Gospel of Jesus, or is it our hatred for certain things (and certain people)?

  What does it tell the world when they see Christians angry and picketing things they are against?  What message does the contorted angry face give to a hurting world?

  When Jesus saw a whore being stoned, did he join in?

  When Jesus saw a conniving, self-centered, "legal thief" looking for him, did Jesus say to him: "You dirty man!  I am against you and your kind!"?

Why do we continue to neglect the example of Jesus in these matters?  Why do we vehemently oppose things publicly while forgetting to even mention the name of Jesus at work? How do we justify contorted angry faces for things we see opposed to God, yet can't allow ourselves to feel broken over the lost, hurting and hungry? 

What does it say about our connection to a loving God when we ourselves have little real love to go around...except for those like us?

Again, we do need to make stands against culture, I agree with that. BUT, why can't we make stands the way Jesus did...by bringing peace, healing, wholeness and redemption?


*As a side note, I've noticed this with Blogs as well...usually Christians only comment on a blog when they disagree...just pointing that out*

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The Blind Beggar

  Recently, I've been walking through and reading the book of Mark and have been continuously smacked with how much of Jesus story I either forgot about or didn't catch everything going on in the scene.  This story is no exception.  Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and ultimately his death.  He is walking from Jericho and a huge crowd surrounds him when this scene takes place:

And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart. Get up; he is calling you." And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight." And Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. (Mark 10:46-52 ESV)


   The first thing I notice is the beggar in this story.  He is blind, but once he hears that Jesus is on the road, he shouts out to him.  The second thing I notice is the name in which he calls Jesus: "...Son of David".  Here, the blind beggar declares a Messianic title of Jesus, showing the audience (both then and now) that he believes Jesus to be the King Israel has been waiting for.  This man can not see, yet he sees Jesus better than most do.  This man doesn't know Jesus personally, yet he knows Jesus better than most.

   The next thing to notice is the crowd.  Their response to Bartimaeus always shocks me, why would they shut him down?  It was as if they were saying: "Jesus is a busy guy and doesn't need to be distracted by some blind guy".  Which, if they knew Jesus, they would know that's foolish.  Here they clearly show their lack of knowledge (sight?)  about Jesus (despite their proximity). 

  Next, we see that the shutting down from the people in the crowd doesn't deter the beggar...in fact he shouts all the more!  He (from a cultural perspective), a lowly beggar should be subject to those above him.  Not only this, but if someone who knows someone tells you (someone who doesn't know the someone) that he is too busy, the general rule is you believe them and stop persisting.  Yet, this beggar had better sight of Jesus, despite his "not knowing him".

  I think we as Christians need to pause here.  I fear that we have become arrogant in our "knowledge" of Jesus and think we know Jesus better than non-Christians due to our proximity. 

I think we have been the crowd that shuts those screaming for Jesus out.

I fear we feel Jesus is too busy loving us, that we can't possibly let the beggar have some of Jesus time. 

Or, our arrogance has led us to believe...truly believe that Jesus loves us more because we go to church and say we "know him".

  This blind beggar saw a Jesus that the seeing crowds surrounding him did not. The beggar called to Jesus with a knowable name "Son of David" and knew Jesus could heal him, if Jesus so desired.

  Then, Jesus, hearing the mans shouts calls him to come. 

  This is where it gets funny to me, because the way the people respond to this.  They say to the man "take heart! He's calling you!"  It almost sounds like they are trying to say to the guy: "be encouraged because he will hear you out" all the while they were the ones trying to shut him up!  I sense an arrogance about this response.  Almost like a "You made the cut kid!  Good job!"  As if they were already on the team...it just feels weird to me and I sense the Spirit saying to me: "You act like this to those who don't yet know me.  Marvin, you've acted arrogantly to true seekers after me.  Your reaction has harmed some". 

  This is me. I forget how far Christ has brought me.  I forget where I could/should be without Him.  I forget that the blind beggars who do not know Christ could be myself (and in fact was me at one point in time).

  Then, Jesus asks the man what he desires.  I always chuckle when Jesus does this...I mean seriously, a blind guy is asking you for a miracle and you ask him what miracle he desires?  Jesus is God, so I know he has motives in it, I know there is a deeper probing within in it...but it's still ironic.
 
  The man responds that he desires to see and Jesus obliges stating the mans faith has made him well.  However, in the dialogue about the faith healing, Jesus says to the man: "Go your own way".  Jesus has said this to other people he's healed and they walk away.  John 5 shows a guy who was healed, then tattles on Jesus for healing him on the sabbath...so from seeing all these ungrateful guys, it shocked me to see this at the end: "And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way".  


  Not only did the man see the real, true Jesus while blind, this beggar made his way, Jesus' way.  He aligned himself to Jesus then and there.  He didn't walk away and dance and skip and shout in the town...he followed Jesus, right away.  No excuses, no lame conversations, he simply followed Jesus.

  People need Jesus.  People are shouting for Jesus.  We sometimes shut them out and anticipate them getting what they want from God and as soon as they do, they will leave.  Not all of them will.  Let's ask the Spirit to lead us towards these types of beggars.  Let's ask the Spirit to teach us how to lift them closer to the Lord rather than shutting them out from Him.

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Dealing With Santa

THIS IS A RE-POST FROM LAST YEAR: 


This may offend some people, and I am willing to take that risk for speaking out about what I think to be "The Santa Dilemma".




In our American culture, the true meaning of Christmas over that last 150 years has been all but covered up. Christmas produces some of the most unhappy times of year and makes a liar out of the song writer who wrote: "It's the most wonderful time of the year". This saddens me, because I truly do try to make it a happy time of year, but when I go driving to the mall, and get flicked off, yelled at and hum bugged at because I parked somewhere that someone else desired to, it drags ya down a bit.

   I could go on about how Christmas spirit is slipping away, but we're here to talk about Santa. Santa has been a hallmark for Christmas for some time now and I think that we have 3 choices when it comes to Santa: reject him, receive him or redeem him.

   I think our culture has grown to love Santa to the deep level of not fully being able to reject Santa. Santa does have Christian roots. His is the story of a man who loved Jesus and loved the poor and because of his love for both he took some of his earthly wealth and during the year St. Nick gave presents to children who otherwise would have nothing. St. Nick didn't spoil the kids with junk and expensive toys, nor did he know with magical powers who was naughty or nice. Neither could he fly or appear to the whole world in one night...those were the add-ons that should be rejected, but St. Nick himself shouldn't be rejected. 


   I also think that we can’t fully receive him either. I've wrestled with this hard and long because I now have a child (and one on the way) who will soon start believing in such things. Do I want to lie to my children about an omnipotent, omniscient being who is fat, jolly and gives out tons and tons of toys, only to have them one day find out the truth and be crushed? I had to answer no. I don't mind having my son sitting on Santa's lap, or talking to him about the legend of Santa, or explaining how some of what Santa "does" is myth, I just can't pass those things off as truth. I just can't. If I am going to tell my son about Santa Claus and explain how he has similar powers to God and then later my son finds out that Santa is a fake, why would he then believe me when I talk about God?  I actually had an atheist teen in my Youth Group ask me: "God sounds like Santa.  Santa we say isn't real, why should I believe God is real?"  That got me to think about this Santa Dilemma pretty deeply.

    A side from the lying...I don't want to set my son up for getting crushed emotionally. One day he will find out there is no Santa and it will crush him when he does, I just don't desire to be the one responsible for that kind of pain. Knowing that I for 4 or 5 years had lied to my son to only wait for the inevitable blow, and have the lights click on that Daddy had lied to him is too much for me to deal with.  This sets up all kinds of loss trust and I am not willing to sacrifice my sons trust over a myth.

   Santa can be redeemed! He, like I said believed in Jesus, lived a life of charity for those in need and those are Christian attributes to be encouraged in our children. Christmas is about Jesus and St. Nick would be appalled at what we have done to take the focus off of Jesus in his name. I am not talking about "taking away Christmas Spirit"; I'm talking about infusing the True Christmas spirit into the Season that is the Spirit of God.

   Lastly, I desire to teach my children proper gratitude. If I get a gift for my child, I want them to know it was me who got it for them. I desire to be a good gift-giver to my kids so that I can the reflect how good our Father in Heaven is at giving gifts. If I say that Santa was the one who made and got these things for them, I have stripped them of proper gratitude because they will be thanking the air instead of their Father and Mother.

   It pains me that many Christians put more emphasis on Santa than Jesus and many may think my view to be a “Scrooge's Stance” but   Christmas is about the Advent of Christ, realizing His gift to me was His life and resurrection and at his birth that chain of events started. Christmas isn’t about what I get, it’s about what I already HAVE…Jesus.

   In conclusion, I want it to be known that I am in no way judging you for not holding my viewpoint on Santa Claus. I’m sure many of you will disagree and that’s OK. For me and my wife, we just can’t adhere to the Santa lie for our kids.

For more in depth conversation about this, check these two sites out:

Pastor Mark Driscoll on Santa-- Pastor of a large church in Seattle, WA

Real Parents discuss Santa-- Parents who struggle with this idea and voice their opinions

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Spearfishing is Over!

This morning as I was praying I saw a picture.  The picture was of a massive sea with many fishing boats with men in the boats.  Each man had a fishing spear in his hand and was attempting to fish in the sea with the spear.

  I noted that this method of fishing wasn't working and I heard Jesus tell the men that they are not pulling in the amount of fish he set out for them to. 

He asked them to change the way the in which they were fishing, yet the men ignored Jesus. They began to fiercely throw the spears so they could show Jesus that the method they chose would work and they could bring in  a huge catch of fish if they just tried harder.

  They continued in this manner until Jesus voice grew louder.  He said that he would take them out of the water unless they made the appointed catch.  He demanded they change the way in which they were fishing yet as the picture faded I saw no one change the way in which they were fishing.

  This picture bugged me.  I asked God what it meant and I remembered a verse: "I will make you fishers of men".  Jesus in this verse was talking to his fishing disciples.  He challenged them to leave their nets for fishing and pick up new nets for bringing people into the Kingdom of God.

  Taking these two pictures together, I understood the Lord was trying to tell me that we, Bible Believing Christians around the world have been using fishing spears to catch the harvest of lost souls, rather than the more updated method of fishing: nets.

  We've been neglecting the world of those lost because we thought we knew how to fish.  We ignored the master fisherman and continued down the path with outdated and ineffective methods when we could be grabbing people by the net-full.

  What does this all mean for the future way in which we minister?  I have no idea, but in my heart and mind it clearly means some things need to be overhauled.  Some things need to be different.  I know of many people coming to the Lord recently...does this mean their are even more if we simply change the method in which we bring God's truth?

  What are your thoughts?  I share this because I feel it was powerful.  What are some "Spearfishing" methods we need to change?  What are some ideas that could be "Net fishing"? 

PLEASE SHARE!!

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Children of the Wind

  In Scripture, the Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to as "Wind" or "like the wind".  I love this picture because the wind is a mysterious force.  We can feel it, we can see it's effects, but it is invisible.

  The Spirit is much like the wind.  He is powerful, mighty and we can see his works and might.  We see the effects of the Spirit, yet he is invisible.

  In the book of John, we see an exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus on the issue of being born again.  Nicodemus is perplexed by the idea of a new birth or being born again and so Jesus is explaining it in a simpler way.  He says:

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8 ESV)


  Wind is powerful.  Wind is strong.  The wind changes things, yet people have no idea where it came from or how it came about...it just happens.  For us who have witnessed a storm, or any wind moving, bending or changing things, this is easy to accept.

  The same is true for everyone who is born of the Spirit.

  The Spirit is powerful.  The Spirit is strong.  The Spirit changes things, yet people have no idea where it came from or how it came about...it just happens.

  The world sees a drug addict turn to Jesus and lives the rest of their life free from addiction.  The man addicted to porn encounters Jesus and never looks at porn again.  The angry woman, rejected by her earthly father despises marriage, meets Jesus and her heart is changed.  The sinner meets Jesus, is changed and releases the burden of their sin.

  Born again.  Change.  New Birth.  New creation.  All made possible by the death of Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

  The word for spirit in this passage is also the word for wind.  When you see the word wind in the beginning of the passage, it is the same word used for Spirit...the exact same one.  So, when we are children of the Heavenly wind, that is the Spirit we change.  We don't go back in our mother's womb.  We don't get a new physical birth.  We are born of the Spirit of God.  When this happens, we change.  Our nature has shifted from sinner to saved.  Our chains have been released from Sin and now we can take up Jesus burden, which is lighter.

  The wind is mysterious, so is the Spirit.  The wind can be dangerous, so can the Spirit.  The wind is unexpected, so is the Spirit.  The wind doesn't warn you when it will make a change, the Spirit doesn't always.  The Spirit in the believer is one of the most amazing things about God, that he would choose to dwell in us.  That he would choose to give us the power to live the Christian life.   That He would teach us by His Spirit.  It's amazing.  I am a child of the wind, the Spirit of the living God.

BEWARE: sometimes the wind makes changes we don't like.  Breaks things we have become accustomed to in life.  The Spirit does the same.  He may move us to change.  He will give us new desires, desires to read His Word, desires to serve Him only. Will you yield to His promptings?  Will I yield to His promptings?  The wind doesn't hold back, neither does the Spirit.  Are we willing to ride the winds of change that the Spirit will bring to our hearts?  Will we release our burdens and take His upon us?

  Being a child of the wind means we too are dangerous, we too have power...not of our own but from Him.  We are not weak robots who are on this earth to simply go to church once a week and call that our "religious requirement".  We are to be Warriors, listening for where the wind (The Spirit) would have us go.  Speak to those who need his touch.  Pray for those who need his healing. 

  Being a child of the Wind is an adventure, an exciting ride.  Am I ready?  Are you ready?

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What Do You Want?

Think of the first thing you would expect Jesus to say to his first disciples.

  What did you come up with?

Me, I would expect a profound statement of his purpose, or a simple, easy to understand illustration portraying who he is and why they should follow him.

  Was your thought similar?

  Actually, Jesus didn't pronounce himself as anything to his first disciples, John the Baptizer did.  Nor did Jesus make bold claims or share any super astonishing truth.

  Jesus first words to his first disciples were: What do you want?

"The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God!' The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them,  "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), 'where are you staying?'" (John 1:35-38 ESV, emphasis mine)

  Jesus sees them following him after John's pronouncement and asks them what they want from him.

  This may not strike you the same way it struck me and in fact you may think it's pointless to point out, but to me, Jesus is asking a deep question. 

These men were just following John, a crazy, sugar and bug eating woodsmen who was demanding repentance before the Messiah came.  John declares to them that the one they have been waiting for is here, and "Behold" it's Jesus.  They then proceed to follow him, without asking.  He walks by, they without hesitation run after him once they hear John's proclamation.

They have made finding the Messiah and then following him their life's goal.  They don't appear to have families yet, both are assumed to be young and they follow Jesus. 

  Jesus doesn't mince words, he goes deep and asks a simple question: what do you want?

You've been waiting for the Messiah, have you?  Why?  What is it you expect or want from the Messiah?  What would the purpose of you following the Messiah be?  Do you want fame?  Do you want glory?

  It's a profound moment for these guys.  What do they answer?

They simply want to hang and be with Him.  That's how they answer.  They say: "Where are you staying?"  In essence, where are we going?  Can we stay with you?  Can we eat meals together?  They want community with Jesus.  They want to know Him.  They want to ask questions.  They simply just want to be with Jesus.

Reading this story yesterday made me wonder: what do I want?

  If Jesus were to turn back and ask me what I wanted out of following him...what would I say?

Well, now, following him is kind of my profession...but that's a cruddy answer and not what I want from following him.

I would hope my answer would be the same as the first two disciples (who were Andrew and the other was suspected to be John himself), which was: to know you, to be with you.  Is that my answer?  Not every day, no.  However, I desire it to be.

So I leave it to you: What do you want?

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Missing Jesus

    "The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God". (John 1:9-13 ESV)

  I've been re-reading through the book of John and I continue to get hit with some great things in this book.  John is, I think my favorite author of the Bible.  He wrote John, 1-3 John and Revelation, all of which are books I deeply enjoy and grow much from reading.

  Here, in the opening pages of John's Gospel, we see something very interesting happen.  God Himself comes to earth and many miss it.

  John shares this beautiful story of God coming into human history, dwelling among the people (John 1:14 ESV) and he shares that we was not received by His own people.  In essence, they missed Jesus, God come from Heaven, putting on flesh to live among them and they miss him.

  What a thing to miss.  What a sad testament to the greatest teachers of the Bible history has known.

  I think the question needs to be answered: who missed Jesus?


  Here, one must look at the totality of Jesus' life in order to find the answer.  Some people did receive and find Jesus, others did not.  The group that seemingly missed Jesus the most however were the religious Bible Teachers of the day.  The guys who knew the Bible inside out, anticipate the Messiah the most and preached sermons on Saturdays for years on end...those were the guys that missed God.

  When I see this played out in the story of Jesus, I automatically start calling those guys bone heads and ask: "How could you miss Him?"  Yet, I have their same title today: Religious Leader.  I am a leader in Christianity.  I am a Pastor, I am a Bible teacher.

  Once this reality sinks in, a get a bit humbled.  I now start to think: would I have missed Jesus?  Maybe I would have.  Maybe I struggle with the same things the Pharisees did. 

Maybe I need to ask now: Why did they miss Jesus?

  Here again, we need to look at all 4 Gospels, the total picture of Jesus life.  What did Jesus call them out on the most?  What did he suggest through his rebukes was the reason they missed it?

Self-righteous Pride

These men were very worried about their appearance.  These men wanted the respect and love of the people.  These men desired to control the mass populace with their rules.  They earned it, they assumed because of their amazing life.  The deserved God's love and the unwavering loyalty from the people because they served God and they lived their lives for Him.

  Yet, whose applause did they live for?  Who did they seek to give the honor, praise and glory to?  Why in fact did they dedicate their lives to service to God?

  I think deep down they desired to serve God, but their pride and the motive of self won each time.  They loved the honor they received.  They loved how the masses followed their new regulations, which were added onto the Law from God.

  Jesus shook this group up.  His coming was not as they expected.  These men were so blinded by what they "predicted the Messiah would look like" that they missed Him.  They had wrongfully assumed that the box they build for the Messiah would fit and anyone who didn't fit the box was obviously (to them) not the Messiah and no one (not even God Himself) could deter them from this.

  Now, with that in mind, I can look into myself and ask: would I miss Jesus?

  Have I added to the Bible for control of others?  Have I desired the applause of men over God?  Do I try to fix and clean my appearance, while ignoring my heart?  Have I boxed God in so much that I couldn't let God himself bust my box?

  The answer is sadly yes.  I do care too much what others think.  I do try to make myself look nice and neat on the outside while my heart is a mess.  I have boxed God in and I like the way my boxed God functions.

  God desires to break my box.  He desires to call me out and make me different than I ever thought possible.  He is expanding my box.  He is calling out my heart and demanding that I think less of other people's opinions and think more of His opinion.  I do NOT want to miss God.  No matter how busy I may get, no matter how hard things get, may I not Miss God!

Do you struggle like the Pharisees?  Have you boxed God in?

May You also come to see Jesus and walk in the promise that seeing Him brings: being called a Child of God!

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Politics in Church

  As a young Pastor, I can confidently say that one of the most divisive things within the church in America are Politics.

  No matter what, this topic ignites fight after fight within the church and causes people to choose sides, all the while wounding their brothers and sisters in the process.

  It, to me is sad that so often in the church we choose our Political Party over our brother and sister in Christ.  The reality is one day political parties will be destroyed and there will only be God and our brothers and sisters.  Why would we choose anything that has a time limit on it over eternal things?

  I know I have had my own political blogs, one not so well received discussion about Osama Bin Laden and others about Obama.  On neither of those topics though did I claim sides, nor political parties I simply expressed what I felt and asked for dialogue, as I am attempting here.

  My opinion on politics in church is that it is a destroyer of community and unity within the body.  If we are believers in Christ, and are made new by the Spirit, it doesn't matter what your political background or party is.  I find it a sad testament to the church itself when people will judge your salvation based on which candidate you vote for or which political party you belong to.  I know this happens, because my salvation was judged by someone I deemed a friend when I told them I voted for Obama in the Presidential election.  Some of you may not like that even today.

  Here again, it may seem I am taking a "political side" but I am not, because all of my other votes in that certain election were for all Republicans so as the power wouldn't fully rest with one party.  Let's not rest here, because it could deter from my point.

  My point is that politics in the church are dangerous.  Dangerous because we simply can't contain our zealot hearts from backing up our beliefs with arguments.  If we were a place where understanding and love flowed, people could open up about who they voted for or what their political bent is.  As the American church is today however, one wouldn't dare for fear of being "labeled" and out casted.

 Some of you may wonder why I am bringing this up during a "political lull" where little political things are being done and spouted and my answer is because it's low tension season which will SOON swing into high tension season...

  In my heart, I truly believe we as the Body of Christ need to remain united more than ever in this tumultuous time.  I fear our political party has become more god to us than God himself, partiotism has covered over our vigor for the church and our campaigns for certain candidates have over shadowed our evangelism for Christ.

  Sure we have a duty to lead this country for Jesus and we desire the most "Christ-like" candidate to take the Presidency but we must stop fooling ourselves: we no longer live in a Christian nation.  Christ does not reign in the hearts of many in office.  The nation we desire to have we will never have until Christ returns.  God will bless this nation through us, his church as we serve this world through our love of one another and the lost and we've been lacking hoping out candidate and the country will do what we are supposed to do.

  The world around us has changed and we've been stuck thinking its the same.  If we truly believe the Scriptures, everything will get worse before it gets better as it pertains to world leaders.  This doesn't mean we stop praying for our leaders, it doesn't mean we stop voting and trying to get the best person in there it simply means we need to change our hope from the leaders of this world onto Christ.  It also means we need to be more active in the healing of this world rather than hoping our vote is enough.

  Let's stop the fighting over which party we belong to and start fighting for the Lord to reign in our hearts and live his love out through us.

 I may be off on this subject, so I desire some feedback. What do you think about Politics and church?  Is it safe?  Why do we attack one another?  I will be doing a radio show on this topic in a couple of weeks and would love some feedback and maybe some callers on the subject!  Thanks friends!


Marv Nelson
ACAC Student Ministries Pastor

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iLife-It's All About Me!

 Today, I am doing a talk on iLife- Who are you living for?  I fear that all too often, even though we may not notice it, we tend to live for ourselves, so our lives become literal "iLife's" because it's all about what "I can get" or "what I can do" and we miss the real focal point of true living.

  As I survey the teen culture, this iLife is pervasive in the lives of our teens and sadly we have created it for them.  We adults are responsible for a legacy of greed and selfish living.  We desire what we want and we don't stop until we get it...so it's no wonder this trait has been passed onto our adolescent offspring.

  I am guilty of being selfish just as anyone else is, but I live as if I am not selfish...weird little pickle I find myself in.  I thought I was living life for Jesus...then I got married and had to realize that I was all too comfortable with living how I pleased.  Now I had to share time, share space, share money and *gasp* actually "get permission" if you will on whether I could buy a new expensive toy or not.

  That in and of itself I thought was a tough adjustment, so by the time I found out Hilary was pregnant with MJ I thought I was now a selfless human being...finally on track with living for Jesus.

  Then MJ actually was born.  I lost (and still do) countless hours of my precious sleep.  I had to be interrupted by cries when I tried to study for my ordination.  "My" money was being spent on things I never heard of before: bottles, special soap, diapers, wipes, butt cream, clothes (even though they are MUCH smaller, the price tag doesn't reflect that), baby food, car seats and much much more.

  This is where it hit me: I've been living for myself, even though I thought I was living for Jesus.

I'm finally ready to admit it: I am selfish and need God to strip me of myself daily.  Even some of the stuff I've "done for God" I am slowly being able to see are tinted (OK, sometimes downright plastered) with selfish motives.

Tonight, with the Middle Schoolers, I won't bore them with things they don't understand (like getting married and wiping their baby's butt), however I will share with them the story of the Rich Young Ruler from Mark 10.

  Here, we see a guy that thought he was all good.  He was a good man (he followed the law), a rich man (wealth equals God's favor in the Jewish mind) and a powerful man (power also translated into God's favor for many).  He possessed the "trifecta" for what many Jews thought was a clear ticket into heaven.  He followed the law and had the perceived favor of the Lord.

  YET, Jesus says he's missing something.

His good living was not for the Lord, but himself.  He loved the wealth and power he had more than following God.  He was a man who lived a great life for one purpose: selfishness.

Our world is full of good people, but who are they living for?

Who are we living for?

Taking an honest look at myself, I have to be honest when I say a huge portion of what I do that needs to be given up to the Lord so it can be HIS and not MINE.  I need to surrender those things to His will and say: "Lord, I want to live a life that is all about bringing Glory to Your Name and has no selfish motive behind it".  This is something I have begun to pray for.  I do not want to ever hold something so tight that if and when God asks for me to hand it over I refuse.

  I desire favor from the Lord and blessing, but I am beginning to desire those things not for myself, but so I can return them to the Lord and see him pouring out his favor on those around me.  This is new, I must admit and something I am still wrestling with.

Let's give up the iLife we're been living and begin to live lives for God and His Name!


Marv Nelson
ACAC Student Ministries Pastor

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The Art of Redemption #2

 We all need it.  We all desperately desire it.  Redemption is it's name.

 Redemption is defined as the following: deliverance; rescue. (Theology)  deliverance from sin; salvation. atonement for guilt.  repurchase, as of something sold.  paying off, as of a mortgage, bond, or note. recovery by payment, as of something pledged. (Dictionary.com "Redemption").

 This is not simply something that is undertaken or accepted easily.  There is an art to this redemption, a stroke of artistic genius that goes a long with redemption, something planned well before redemption was fully possible.

  When you look at the Bible, you can see the recurring themes of fall, redemption, fellowship back to fall.  We, sadly are much like the characters in the Bible in that we do similar wonderings as they did.  We fall prey to the easy street of compromise.  Yet, God still desires us to be redeemed and in fellowship with him.

  Think of Hosea's prostitute wife.  She had children by other men, yet Hosea remained loyal, loving and redemptive.  He could have thrown her out on the curb, left her pennieless, childless and homeless...yet he never does.  By the rights of the law, he had full legal rights to publically kill her by throwing stones at her...yet he never does.

  In fact, one amazing story of redemption is when Gomer (Hosea's wife) is in bed with another man who bought her for the night.  Hosea seeks her out, catches them in bed, pays the man and takes his wife home.

Here's the account:
"And the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins." So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley" (Hosea 3:1-2 ESV).

  Some may call Hosea dumb for his gracious act.  Some may burn with anger at Gomer.  My hope is that we can see ourselves in the story.  The way this is artistically drawn out is incredible.  God used Hosea's life as kind of a "reality show" to wake up the Israelites to the fact that they were/are Gomer.  This is the lesson for us. 
 
We are/were Gomer
 
We see God's grace in this way and some secretly get made.  How could God redeem such a whore we say inwardly.  She was prostituting herself to other men, yet God chose to use her husband to redeem her?  We may also see the gross sin of the Israelites and wonder why God would continue to redeem such a crowd of ungrateful, naughty, idol worshipping dorks.
 
  We forget that inwardly, many of us have committed heinous sins...just no one knows about them.  We can get ourselves off the hook because we haven't "done" those things...but God knows our hearts.
 
  Here's the art of redemption: Even though God knows our hearts, he still sent his son to die for us.  Even though we were lying in bed with Satan, Christ still came, paid the price, yanked us out of that bed and brought us home.
 
  Why do we desire to lay with Satan time and time again?  Why do we choose to leave our marriage bed with the Lord to cheat on him with the sins that ensnare us? 

I think it's due to a forgetting of the Art of Redemption;
 
The beauty of it
 
The joy of it
 
The deep, true meaning of it
 
And the cost of it.
 
  To buy us back, God died.  To pay the cost, Blood was spilled out.  May we cling to Christ as we remember the Art of Redemption.  May we remind ourselves of this redemption story when we are tempted to cheat on God with the sins Satan dangles in front of us.  May sin lose it's attraction as we see God and the beauty of the art of His redeeming Love!

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Biblical Manhood

  The other night, I was in my men's bible study and I was struck by some things in the book of Colossians that I hadn't really connect deeply with until then.

Here's what Paul says in Colossians 3:12-14

  "Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col. 3:12-14 ESV).

   The qualities above Paul is discussing as if they are clothing, something we are to put on.  When I looked at this list of "Clothing" we are to consciously put on, I realized that as men, these are hard things to clothe ourselves with.  We men love strength, force, mighty works and not that these qualities aren't strong, forceful or mighty, it's just that as men we don't normally think of the above qualities as "manly".

  I am a  selfish being, compassion, kindness, meekness, patience and love are sometimes rare in my male heart.  I don't want to speak for all men, but it seems as I survey manhood,  for many men, it seems that it is hard for us to be compassionate, kind, patient and loving and in many ways we look at these qualities as feminine.

  This is not the case!  Paul was a Dude's dude, he had the snot beat out of him, he had been beaten by stones, shipwrecks and many other horrendous happenings.  He had all these qualities and he was a Dude.  The problem I think is our idea of these qualities.  We look at them in ways that are feminine so we reject them.

  I must say that the Western church has done much damage in feminising these qualities and has not properly taught masculine faith.  Compassion is a deep move of one's spirit that should cause one to rise up and desire to fight for justice.  Compassion is not always the sad feeling one feels for poor people, it is deeper.  It moves a person into action.

  The same for kindness, it is a deep movement in one's spirit that drives one to action.  It comes off with nice actions but it is a deep movement of one's being.

  Patience and meekness as well, they are not these mushy gushy things we can sometimes portray them as.  It takes a ton of guts to be patient and meek.

  Humility for me is one that hurts to put on because I am naturally prideful.  God has been challenging me deeply on my pride and really pointing out my nakedness where humility is concerned.  One of the guys in the Bible Study the other night said: "Putting on humility is really a question of where is your confidence." He went on to say that "Humility is confidence in God and Pride is confidence in yourself".  I fully agree and from a cultural standpoint, we men struggle with this because we're taught that in order to be good men, we must put our confidence in ourselves and show people how confident we are in ourselves.

  As men who desire to follow Jesus, we must become humble.  We desperately need a generation of men putting their confidence in Christ rather than themselves.  For too long we men have done our families and our church a disservice because we've been putting our confidence in ourselves and not God.

  The clothes we've been putting on are not the clothes of the new self as laid down by Paul in Colossians 3.  Rather, we've been living in the old self, relying on ourselves, caring only for ourselves and not the world outside of us and our families.

  God is moving.  His Spirit is calling men out.  Will we be there to answer the call as Warriors for the Lord?  Or will we sit back and think "someone else will take care of it"?

  We can't continue to abdicate our calling onto other people.  We men must stand up and stand in the gap.  We can be the changers, the movers and the makers of this great city by the Power of the Holy Spirit.  We can be a part of the solution to the absentee Fathers in our city.  We can stand in the gap and show these younger, fatherless young men what a man is really like.  We can be men who deny the weak man on the corner and step up to model real Fatherhood, real Manhood!

  I'm going to be doing a Biblical Manhood series for awhile starting this week.  Please keep checking back and add your thoughts to the mix!

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The Sign of Jonah

I've been reading through the book of Luke again recently and have again been shocked at the amazing content within this book.  I can't seem to put the book down, I keep coming back to it and back to it.

  While I was reading recently, I was struck by something Jesus said in Luke 11:29-32.  Here's the full account:

 "When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, "This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.  The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.  The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here".(Luke 11:29-32 ESV)

   Take into account the story of Jonah for a moment.  The Ninevites were despised by the Jews for their violent ways and human eating habits.  They were in the Jewish mind: the scum of the earth.  Jonah, a Jew hated these people so much that he fled from sharing the Good News of God with them because Jonah knew they would turn to God and repent once they heard the message.

  Jonah thought they were undeserving of Salvation, that's how jacked up the people of Nineveh were.

  Here, Jesus makes a GIANT statement to the people listening: something greater than Jonah is here and you are missing it!  Jonah was a mere SHADOW compared to me and the people of Nineveh got it.  I am here in the flesh, dwelling amongst you and you have your religious blinders on!  You are missing what is in front of you!

Jesus goes a bit deeper and stabs a knife in by saying that the people of Nineveh will condemn those who fail to respond to Jesus because Nineveh was better than those who fail to repent at the words of Jesus because they repented with much a lesser prophet than Jesus: Jonah.

  Jesus is constantly attacking the sin in the lives of all people, but in particular the religious "elite".  They assume they have it all together.  They feel that their seat in heaven is pretty much a guarantee because of their "righteous living" but here God says that even the "foulest of human" by the standard of the Jew will stand in judgment against them!

  This, like many more statements to come in Luke from Jesus; is a personal assault against the religious leaders who reject Christ and ignore his call to repentance.  They feel so secure in their salvation through their works that they ignore God Himself when he shows up.


  These religious leaders failed to see the sin in their own lives and in doing so arrogantly rejected God in the flesh. 

  Sometimes, we reject the Holy Spirit's whispering of our own sins in the same way.  We all have stuff rooted deep within us that the Holy Spirit desires to bring to the surface, expose and destroy. 

We, like the religious leaders of Jesus' day can tend to reject the need for our own repentance or we simply don't hear nor feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit revealing the truth about our sins.

  What makes this story a bit odd is that this speech from Jesus was all sparked by the crowds desire for a sign.  They wanted to see Jesus prove himself and desired God to use Jesus to show them a sign.  Have they not been paying attention at ALL up to this point?  Jesus has done miracles, exorcism and many more "signs" yet these people MISSED IT ALL.  They were still demanding a sign from Him so He could prove himself.

  Jesus then says: "You want a sign? I'll give you a sign!  How about the sign of Jonah!"  I can see Jesus wanting to relate to Jonah at this point, just so sick of these people, not really wanting to be among them any more because of their foolish hearts...yet Jesus stayed and remained with a good attitude (unlike Jonah).  Even so, the people largely still missed God in the flesh.

  They were out-classed by violent, man-eating sinners.  Heaven it seems is for the messed up, broken, defeated person and not the put together, "sinless" saint.  This fact encourages me because I know I am a messed up broken person and I need Jesus. 

  I know I need to repent, I know I have messed up thoughts, attitudes and motives but the Holy Spirit within me can change that...nothing else can but Him.

  Let us confess our sins, listen to the words of Jesus and not be out-classed by the People of Nineveh!

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Jesus- Boundary Breaker

Jesus hung with a lot of people that most of his culture wouldn’t hang out with. One such occasion happens in John 4:7-26. In Jesus’ culture, women were looked down upon, as were Samaritans. This was a “double no no” for Jesus. Jesus style ministry breaks down these “boundaries” and goes straight to people’s hearts. It didn’t matter her cultural background, it didn’t matter she was a woman and it didn’t matter that she was a sinner.


This woman was part of a culture that was mixed up. Samaritans had mixed blood, mixed religions and mixed up views about God. For a Jew to be seen with a Samaritan, any Samaritan would’ve been bad, but to be seen with a Samaritan woman (who had an especially bad rap, even among the Samaritans) would’ve been unheard of. His decision to talk to her as well as listen to her was unique and out of the normal realm of possibility. Jewish people were pretty racist against the Samaritans and here we see Jesus deciding not to bow to those cultural pressures, in fact he breaks out of them!

The greatest thing to me about this story is that Jesus initiates the whole thing. The woman was coming out at a time when she didn’t expect anyone to be at the well (the Scripture says she came out at about noon and noon was when it would be the hottest) and there was this Jewish man sitting there. Her plan was to ignore him as a good Samaritan should ignore a prominent Jew, but Jesus asks her for a drink of water.

Jesus then shares who she is and what she has been about, to which she is amazed at his knowing so intimately the details of her life. Jesus then shares with her who He is and the knowledge of who Jesus is changes this woman completely, which is evidenced by her new evangelistic lifestyle (John 4:29 & 39).

Due to the cultural no no’s that Jesus was just committing, when the disciples return to Jesus, they are understandably shocked at the scene they see: Jesus chatting casually with a Samaritan Woman. Jesus uses this moment of perplexity to teach his disciples about God’s heart for humanity. He demands of them to open their eyes and see that people of all cultures and all backgrounds are ready to hear of the Lord’s goodness. He tells them to see the harvest that is available for the Kingdom of God to which they are blind because of their cultural box. In this conversation one can sense the rebuke that Jesus give them. It’s almost like he’s saying: “Hey Blind guys, open your eyes, take off your blinders and see what I see! Stop putting me in a box, stop putting my ministry in a box. There are people out there who need to hear about me and what I came to do and you are hindering that! Open your eyes and get to work on the stuff I’ve prepared for you to do!”

Not only did Jesus say this, but he demonstrated it by his actions. He was a more prominent Jew than his disciples were. He had more to “lose” by hanging around and talking to that woman but he proved he didn’t care and he pointed out their prejudice by showing them how they’ve been blind. After Jesus rebukes them at the end of the scene in John, we see that several people come to believe in him because of that one woman’s witness of him. I am sure he looks at them afterwards and says: “Did you guys see the harvest that we reaped today? There is more than that to come if you can open your eyes. It’s just like I said: the harvest is ready!”

Jesus used this scene well to teach his disciples the importance of cross-cultural ministry and to break them out of their box of prejudice that they were living in. This story is for us, the Church as well because sadly we too box up the Gospel with our own prejudices and deny people access whom we shouldn’t be barring from the grace of Christ. We, like Christ and like the disciples should be reaching across culture to proclaim the good news of Jesus. We shouldn’t be stopped short by our foolish notions of the world.

This story brings many implications to us as a people. One implication is that we should seek the Lord on where we are blind because we are all blind in one way or another. If it’s not racism, it could be sexism or ageism. Somewhere in our view of the world, we are blinding ourselves to the harvest that could be reaped and we need the help of the Holy Spirit to open up our eyes and see where we’ve boxed people out.

Another implication is that we need to fear no cultural taboo that may be out there. Jesus went across the tracks on three accounts: ethnicity, sex and reputation. He let none of those taboos stop him from preaching the gospel to the Samaritan woman. This leads us to a third implication: Make the Word our highest court of judgment. If your culture tells you its wrong to hang with or speak with a certain person, go to the Bible and see what God says. If it isn’t in the Bible, don’t bow to it. Too often we become religious fanatics about extra-biblical revelation as the Pharisees were. We have to be careful to heed God’s word, not man’s addition to God’s word.

Lastly, we can see the implication of Heaven being made up of many different people, not just people like ourselves. Heaven will be a beautiful mosaic that reflects all of humanity, so we need to begin to embrace that truth now, because if we don’t eternity may be hard!

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Fearing God

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." (Proverbes 9:10 ESV)

  Much has been said on fearing God and much has been said wrongly about the "Fear of the Lord". 

  Many who teach it talk about God as a vengeful, wrathful God who desires to burn you up and you need to fear his power or you'll get scorched.

  Does God have this power?  Yes, in deed He does.  Has God done this in the past?  Yes, in fact He has.

 However is the formula (the answer to the riddle) to be afraid of God and do what is right so He doesn't scortch you? No, I believe it is not.

 That formula is neither the answer to the riddle or what is mean behind the idea of "Fearing God."  Does the "fear of the Lord" help us put sins in to perspective and help us along our way to sanctified living?  Yes I believe it does.  The true fear of the Lord does in fact lead us to repentance and does in fact lead us down a journey of jettisoning out sins that take over God's position in our lives...yet it's not due to the fear he will fry us up like an egg on a skillet but rather a right understanding of how little, how miniscule we are in the presence of a mighty God.  A.W. Tozer in his book The Knowledge of the Holy says this:

  "In the olden days men of faith were said to "walk in the fear of God" and to "serve the Lord with fear."  However intimate their communion with God, however bold their prayers, at the base of their religious life was the conception of God as awesome and dreadful.  This idea of God transcendent runs through the whole Bible and gives color and tone to the character og the saints.  This fear of God was more than a natural apprehension of danger; it was a nonrational dread, an accute feeling of personal insufficiency in the presence of God the Almighty." (Tozer, 1961, p. 71)

  It's not a fear of God destroying you rather it's a full on understanding of how insignificant you and I are when we are before God.  Seeing how powerful, transcendent He is makes us feel week and insufficient.  We realize our sheer incapacity to do anything and His omnipotence to do everything.  We understand just how ugly we are and how marvelous He is.

  Fearing God can then be understood as a right understanding of God and ourselves in comparison.  People sin because they are acting as if they know better than God.  We do what we want because we stick up our finger to God and say: "I do what I want because I'm in control"  that is NOT fearing God. That's why Tozer says:  "When men no longer fear God, they transgress His laws without hesitation." (Tozer, 1961, p. 71)

  We we don't properly understand ourselves compared to God we will sin with abandon.  When we don't fear God and see Him rightly, we will begin down a dangerous path to destruction.

  Lastly, in the Proverb quoted twice above the ending says: "...and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." (Proverbes 9:10 ESV).   If fearing God is the beginning of wisdom, than seeking to know God more rightly is insight, or "understanding" as the NIV puts it.  Our lives should be surrounded around Knowing God and Making Him Known.

  The greatest thing about this calling is that God has left us His Spirit on the earth to indwell our hearts and make the desires come alive inside of us.  We must be willing to yield our hearts over to Him so we can begin the process of seeing Him rightly, ourselves rightly and spreading His Good News whereever we go!

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Jesus Manifesto- A book Review

This is a book about Jesus.  Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola are tired of Christians missing the point of Christianity, which is Jesus.

  This book does similar to what Jesus did in the end of Luke on the Road to Emmaus where it says: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." (Luke 24:27 ESV)

  The authors want to show the reader that everything in the Bible and everything in the life of the believer is and should be surrounded by, plunged into and seen through Jesus.

  They go to great lengths to share from the Bible how Jesus is the focal point of our faith.  They also go to great lengths to personalize the gospel, sharing how Christ at the point of our salvation dwells within us and we have the divine communing with us.  Below is a great excerpt from the book that to me is the sum of the whole book.

  "Not only does this Christ live in you, but more importantly: you can live by His life.  ...Christ who is our life. (Col. 3:4)  You have been invited to share life with your Maker and Creator.  And to top it all off, you have been made utterly, totally, fully complete in Him--here and now (Col. 2:10)  Why, then would you chase anything else? How can you be consumed with anything other than your Lord, Jesus Christ?  And how can you graduate beyond Him?  He is enough, even more than enough.  Jesus Christ is like a vast ocean.  He is too immense to fully explore, and too rich to fathom.  You are like a bottle. The wonder of the gospel is that the bottle is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the bottle."

   It's all about Jesus and Jesus is all we need.  This book is an easy read and a book worth reading.  We do (as the authors suggest) neglect the truth of the Gospel which is Jesus. His Spirit dwells within us and makes us new and it is only possible due to his death and resurrection.

  I was a bit disappointed in the heavy weight put on one member of the Trinity to the exclusion of the others...which taking chapter 10 into account they thought might be an issue, since it adressed that mode of thinking.

  All in all this book was a good reminder that our faith and what we "do" is really not us but is Jesus.  Without Jesus we can't do anything for God.  With Jesus we have the ability to do everything for Jesus by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit within us.

  I do recommend this book and whole-heartedly affirm the message.  More Christian books should be surrounded in and around Jesus rather than self-help or other trivial matters.  Sadly (as the authors point out themselves) much of what we have in the Christian Literature section these days are self-help, self-awareness, self-betterment and self-enrichment rather than Jesus.  I would also say much of what is preached from the American pulpit is the same.  Let's preach Christ and have a new "Jesus Manifesto!"

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Serpentine Jesus

The thing I love about the Bible is that it tells several stories that all end up telling the same macro-narrative of Jesus.

  Genesis-Revelation tells the story of a lost, fallen humanity and their need of a Savior.  These books also tell of the rescuer: Jesus and how he from the beginning was meant to come and rescue the world.

  The book of Numbers gives a great glimpse of what I'm talking about:

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."  Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.  And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Numbers 21:4-9 ESV)

  Many people at first glance would look at this story and not think much of it.  In fact I myself didn't think much of it for many years (except maybe that this story is where we get the symbol for healthcare seen right side below )

  This story is in fact also a precursor to what would happen to Jesus.  He would be raised up on a cross and all who look to Him will recieve Salvation. He says so in His conversation with a rich Jewish leader named Niccodemus: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up." (John 3:14 ESV)

  God's narrative in the Bible is amazing to behold.  Seeing the familiar patterns and the arrows pointing over and over again to Jesus are staggering.  No one, and I mean now one could have imagined the sheer depth of detail that God went through to point to Jesus.

  Let's look at a few other details in the Old Testament that can easily be seen as pointing to Jesus:

1. The Passover

2. The Sacrificial System

3.  The Suffering Servant from Isaiah 53

4. Numerous Psalms all describing a coming savior who wouldn't see death

5. The Prophecies that Christ fulfilled

  Literally I could go on and on and I know I didn't even add in all the the "most important" arrows pointing to Christ.  My simple point in this simple post is that Christ is the center of the Bible.  God is the main Character and he desired to make known Himself in the manifest body of Christ, thus the Son was thrust into the shining light of the whole Bible.

  Jesus said: "Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" (John 14:9 ESV)

  Seeing Him is Seeing the Father.  Seeing Him is Seeing the Holy Spirit.  In Jesus we see the mainifestation of God to His people, loving them to DEATH...literally.

  He has brought about healing for our souls from the cross, for when we look upon the Raised up Christ he heals our souls and when we gaze upon the ressurected Christ we see our Salvation.

  It's pretty cool looking at the Scriptures through the lens of Jesus because when  you do the more "hidden Jesus code" you find and the more the Scriptures POP with awesome strength!

  The whole Bible tells the story of Jesus, when we connect to the Bible, we connect to Jesus, who is in fact God.  God's story is His Story, revealing to us who He is and how it is we can know Him better...which allows us to know ourselves better in turn.

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Revealing Oneself

We live a a world with a ton of revelation.  People inside have a deep, deep sense of wanting to be known.  I know more about my friends now then I ever had before thanks to Twitter and Facebook!

  I am aware that these new cultural networks (fads?) aren't true community but for some reason, people choose to reveal parts of themselves on Facebook and Twitter that they never would in the real world.

  I know many church guys who wouldn't blast people with the information that they went clubbing and drinking last weekend, but on their Facebook I can instantly see pictures of them drinking a Miller Lite with a young adult girl on their laps laughing like they just heard the funniest joke.  That scene is a new revelation to me about that person.

  Also, with the ever present "status update" people can reveal what they're doing, when and where (thanks to the GPS locator they turned on their Twitter) they're doing it within split seconds.

  I am one to say that these people (pre-Facebook) had a desire to let people know who they were, but didn't know how to reveal it, due to fear of rejection, fear of consequences, or just plain embarassment.  Now people can reveal who they are, what they like and what they prefer in life. 

  People want to be known.  Do things like Facebook replace the face-to-face authentic relationship?  NO!  However it strikes me as extremely interesting that they choose to reveal stuff there as opposed to "real life."

  My premise remains though, people want to be known.  There is a deep longing to be an open person, where people will love you no matter what.  There is a deep longing for ultimate community where everyone shares everything and still loves each other.  This I contend is where we as a church should desire to go.  We should be a safe haven for people longing to be known. 

  When they're known and loved no matter what, people will ask why in fact we love them no matter what.  They will wonder what's different about this community than all others they've experienced.  We then share the truth about Christ.  This is not about tricking anyone, because if they never ask (which when we live like Christ rarely happens) there is no need to shove Jesus down their throats.  When they come to church they will hear about Jesus in the sermons and experience Him in community by haning with us.

  The truth about revealing oneself is that even in safe places, you can only truly reveal your true, whole and authentic self to few people.  There will be times when you need the company and counsel of a few and that is OK and very Scriptural.  The need to reveal yourself is deep rooted and I challenege any and everyone to choose people they can and will reveal themselves to. Heck, Jesus needed to reveal his whole self!

  In Luke 9:28-36 we see Jesus reveal Himself to Peter, James and John:

 "Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah"— not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen."

Jesus revealed His full self (well as much as he could without killing them) to these guys.  Jesus wanted to be fully known by these three.  He bared the truth about who he was to them and I have no doubt it solidified their friendships.  If Jesus is about revealing oneself, why the heck has the church missed out on this?

 I know there are several reasons, too much to get into here but we must move to a place where the church is safe for people to be open and authentic...no more faking it...because if we keep faking it, this younger generation will walk away from the church and God.

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