Lessons

Journey of the Psalms: Restorer

2011-04-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

Read Psalms 14.

This world is evil, corrupt, and godless. The people part of this world are the same way. Naturally, we are evil, corrupt, and unrighteous. Naturally, we strive to get what we want, no matter the cost, obstacles, or people. We are fools, and we have no knowledge of God or His ways, nor can we do good and righteous deeds.

The psalmist lets us know of the world he lives in, which is much like today's world, without a few technological discoveries. People are still evil, corrupt, and godless. This seems to overwhelm the psalmist, but it does not. And it should not overwhelm us. There is good news here.

God is with the righteous. He protects the righteous.

How is this good news if we are naturally evil, corrupted, and unrighteous? None of us can do righteous deeds, so how do we get God with us?

Answer: We don't get God to us. God has to come to us, and He did. From His throne in Zion, the Lord, in the form of a man, Jesus Christ, came to earth. He lived a sinless life. The time came for Jesus to restore His people (the Day of Atonement, Leviticus), and His blood was shed as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. This means that all the evil, corrupt, and unrighteous acts we have been doing from the beginning of time and will do until the end of time have been atoned. After atoning for our sins, Jesus rose from the dead, then ascended back to His throne in Zion.

This ultimate restoration is the hope of the psalmist. Yes, people are bad, but there is hope. Hope in a restored earth, where corruption doesn't exit. Hope in a coming Savior that will redeem His people from the heartaches of this world and its evils. Hope in a place where there is no more sins. This is what Jesus Christ offers: a life forgiven of the sins we have and will have committed. What a relief! What a refuge!

Bullets to my Soul

2010-06-12T11:42:00.001-07:00

Howdy People!

I'd like to share this picture.

I love this picture. S can see what I see, even though she doesn't understand it, but she loves the view. I try to imagine what that was like. She's taken from her normal world (everything from 3ft) to something strange, but fun and exciting (everything from 7ft). We were at the Taste of Forsyth. I knew that she didn't really know how to hold on yet, so I was holding her up by her legs, but even if she did, I wouldn't let go. Without knowing it, she had complete trust in my abilities to keep her safe.

There was so much stuff there for her to see. As she looked around from that high, she probably saw the bounce-o-rama on the other side of the parking lot. She also might have seen the band, the balloons, and any number of things. What S didn't understand was the amount of time and energy (either on my shoulders, in the stroller, or walking) that it would take to make the journey.

As a Christian, it's hard for me not to state the similarities to our lives, mainly our relationship to the Heavenly Father. Many times, at least in my life, I have felt as if I didn't understand anything. I could walking holding His hand, or in a stroller (completely helpless). I may feel close to the Father, he may even have me on His massive shoulders, but the world just looks strange from any of these points. I hold on tight, even though I know He has me in His hands. When I am that close, I can feel His compassion for me. I can feel how He longs to be with all His children, and to take care of them.

From His shoulders, I can see where I want to be. I can see helping the poor, adopting more children, helping human trafficking victims, and enjoying time with Jesus in heaven (what I call the bounce-o-rama for adults). I just don't know how I am going to get there. Sometimes, I can feel Him leading me closer, and other times, the destination feels so far away. It's probably because I thought I could get there faster by running away and doing my own thing, only to get lost in the world, then crying out for Him to find me again.

There's a word I want to focus on. Compassion. Compassion is defined as a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. Jesus felt compassion for the people. Three times the word compassion is used in Matthew, twice in reference to people's suffering. Basically, he saw hungry people and fed them. 4,000 one time and 5,000 another time. The first time he uses compassion is when Jesus sees this crowd of people trying to get somewhere, but they don't have the right leaders or the right goals, so He began to teach them the truth.

Like my God, I feel compassion for these children with no homes, no families, no hope, and no savior. Jesus doesn't first recognize that He is "loving others" (2nd greatest commandment) in order to "love God" (1st greatest commandment), He just does. I've had conversations about too much focusing on "loving others" but the Bible says Jesus felt compassion for these people, then, as the definition says, alleviated their suffering. I think it's because of my relationship with the Father that I have this passionate desire to rescue these children with no families. I want to let them know, they can have a family, and they can be a part of a much bigger family of God. There is a video of a song on YouTube. Here is the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4eZybIXpm8 - The lonely children out there are like bullets to my soul.

In Luke 15: 1-7, Jesus tells the people of the lost sheep that was found, and that all of heaven rejoiced. This journey we embarked on in January of 2008 has had many rejoicing moments brought about by S. I have just a glimpse of what our Father in heaven feels when a child returns to Him. And I cannot wait to experience it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and... you get the picture. It may not be in our near future, but it may be in our near future. I do not know what God has in store for our family, I do not understand what we can see, I know Kelly and I are compassionate for children, and I know our journey is not complete until we reach the pearly gates, so until then we await His call.

God is waiting for you too. He wants to carry you on His shoulders. He wants to take tare of you. Most of all He wants you not to perish. God provided a way not to perish, but first we have to understand why we are perishing. God's law, the Ten Commandments (and other various laws), are the standard. Most of us have lied, or lusted after people, or worshiped something other than God. Since we have broken the law, we are subject to God's punishment. God's punishment for sin is death, eternal death in a place called Hell. The way out is adoption into His family. Adoption has a steep price. The adoption of the world cost the death of Jesus Christ, God's son. Our choice is to repent of our ways and trust in God's sacrifice for us. That's the first step into joining God's family. There is no prayer, there is no altar, there is only your choice. I pray for you who read this, and I pray that your choice is made to join the Kingdom of God. Remember this, no matter what, I love you, and so does God.

Interlude: Children of God (Brief Musings of a Father)

2010-04-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

Sasha sometimes freaks out about doing something she doesn't understand or doesn't want to do. She will wiggle, fight, toss, go dead weight on the floor, and it is a struggle to get her to where she needs to be. Basically, having to pick her up off the floor, fighting her to sleep, feeding her, taking her to other people's houses, church, and all that takes genuine effort. Sometimes, Sasha doesn't throw any fits, and it's so much easier for her to enjoy the trip, sleep, or the food. - God's will for our lives.

Another thing I've noticed is how many children play with boxes. You or I buy this huge, awesome, thrilling and exciting toy, and the child opens the package and plays with the box. They will crawl through the box, chew on the box, hide in the box, play peekaboo through the box... pretty much everything you can do with a box, the child will do. It's cute when we see it. We take lots of pictures and laugh along with them having fun. But the thought occurred to me, how much more fun would they have if they knew what the toy did? - The world is the box we play with, the toy is what God has for us.

Journey of the Psalms: Steadfast

2010-04-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

Read Psalms 13.

In this Psalm, the psalmist is on the verge of despair. He knows that he cannot last longer on his own endurance. He is letting God know about his feelings, not really asking for information. He longs for God's presence. He wants God to intervene, to give him strength. The psalmist ultimately knows God will take care of him. He trusts in the steadfast love, which has been evident since the promise to Abraham from God.

Steadfast describes an object as unwavering, fixed in place position, or firmly established. Here is a point that needs to be emphasized. GOD'S LOVE IS UNMOVING, NEVER-CHANGING, AND FIRMLY ESTABLISHED. There is nothing we can do to lose God's love. In the Psalm, the enemy sees the appearance that God is not with the psalmist, and the enemy is gloating. However, the psalmist knows God is there. He even sings to Him.

We need to take a lesson from the psalmist. There are times when we all feel like God is not with us. When we feel this way, we need to test ourselves to see if we are relying on our own power. When we are constantly relying on God, we cannot be using our own power or endurance. Even if we "pass the test" we need to realize God has a plan for our lives, and we need to sing to Him, thanking Him for His promise, the fulfillment of His promise through Christ, and the future fulfillment of His promise through the Second Coming. That makes me want to sing!

Journey of the Psalms: Pure

2010-02-12T05:54:00.001-08:00

Read Psalms 12.

The psalmist despises the world in which he lives. He attempts to paint a picture of how people are acting. Basically, no one can be trusted. All lie for gain. The gain is due to taking advantage of the poor and needy. As despicable as it is, people are exalted for it. The psalmist couldn't have painted a more accurate picture of today's world.

The world praises those who make profit as others' expense. They are compensated highly for saving money by using child labor, cheap labor, or cheaper products. Anything that saves a company money to realize more gain is recognized as a great achievement.

The psalmist knows Who to trust. He knows Whose Words are pure. He knows Whose Word will last. The gain promised by God is not another lie. God made a promise to Abraham, and the psalmist trusts in that promise. The promise is now available to all, through Jesus Christ.

God cares for the poor, the needy, the helpless, the abandoned, the fatherless, the orphans, the widows, the homeless, and the forgotten. God has given commandments concerning them. In Deuteronomy, God said, "You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land." Many other Scriptures ring of taking care of the needy.

Here is my question. Who is more needy - a person without Christ or a person without wealth, food, water, shelter, etc...? God saw this ultimate need. It's in all of us, this need of a savior. God came to earth as a man, Jesus Christ, and gave all of Himself, his pure being, so that we could become part of the Kingdom of Heaven. God showed us, by the ultimate sacrifice of Himself, what we should do for others.

This is a challenge. In a society that fosters setting and achieving goals, dreams, etc..., how do we look out for our neighbor? We have to change our goals to God's goals.

Journey of the Psalms: Foundation

2010-01-05T12:10:00.001-08:00

Psalms 11.

When I was a child (and up until I went to college), whenever there was a tornado warning, or similar storm, my family would get to the basement. We took refuge as close to the foundation as possible. The foundation is safe during the storms, if it is the right foundation. The Psalmist knows the righteous foundation. God is the foundation you can trust for all the ages. He is unmovable. He is the pinnacle of stability. In Him, I put my trust. On Him, I build my life.

Jesus talked about building your life on the foundation of God, and the foundation of the world. Jesus says using God as a foundation for life, is like building a house on rock, and using the world as a foundation for life, is like building a house on sand. The house on the rock will weather the storms, but the house on the sand will fall. This does not mean we will not have troubles. This does not mean a tree will not break our house. It means we have a foundation always to run to during the storms.

What else is foundation? According to Webster, foundation is "a cosmetic, as a cream or liquid, used as a base for facial makeup." This is an interesting theology. Paul says we need to put on Christ daily. Christ is our foundation. In other words, we have to put on our foundation, if people are going to see God.

Journey of the Psalms: Breaker

2009-12-28T05:01:00.001-08:00

Psalms 10.

We have all seen it. A situation where wicked and unrighteous men and women are taking whatever they want when they want it. Types of governments, types of classes, types of families... all of these are systems created by mankind that oppress the poor and fatherless, by creating them and neglecting them. There are those who benefit from the systems. There are those who use the benefits they receive to help others. This Psalm is about those who only benefit themselves. The Psalmist has seen over and over again the wicked mocking God and succeeding. He asks what many of us ask when we witness or are oppressed by such situations. Where is justice? Why is God not acting? Why does God hide His face when the wicked oppress, and then boast that God will do nothing? These are honest questions that stem from out belief in who God is. I believe God is just. The Psalmist does too.

The Psalmist also knows a day of reckoning is coming. He knows these men and women will get what they ultimately deserve. The Psalmist wants them to repent. He wants them not to suffer for all eternity. The Psalmist knows how great God is, and how great it will be to be present with Him through eternity. The Psalmist's heart ultimately hurts for the evildoers. The Psalmist wants justice, but also calls for repentance. If the wicked man repents, there is rejoicing in heaven.

I feel the Psalmist's heart. He feels the active injustice the wicked are causing. He feels that if God were to show the wicked who was boss, then they will repent. He wonders why God doesn't show His face. I believe I know why. God calls His people to be His ambassadors. We are to shine His light in our actions. In Corinthians, Paul tells us that we are living letters to the unrighteous. I feel the Psalmist is praying for the souls of the wicked. It's something I haven't really thought. I've heard to love your enemies, but it really didn't hit home until now.

Journey of the Psalms: Everlasting

2009-12-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

Psalms 9.

David was a man with problems. Problems caused mainly by sin, but through people and countries who hated Israel, and it's God. But David knew the secret. He tells us that everything will pass away and only God will remain. All that these people disagreed upon, all that the agreed upon, all goes away. All will disappear. David makes it clear that his trust is in that which will at last time... God.

We need to put our trust in the everlasting. God has shown me this week that things that are so pressing now do not really matter in the grand scheme of things. God has it under control. He is He. I trust in Him who will not destruct. I find it very comforting that in the end God is all there is.

Journey of the Psalms: Majestic

2009-11-26T15:26:00.000-08:00

Psalms 8.

God made the heavens! He used His hands and molded the sun, the stars, the skies, the mountains, space, the oceans, animals, and all of the universe. Also, He created man. He gave man dominion over all He had created. Why does God, whom can do whatever He pleases, give us anything? He wants us to be a representation of Him.

The psalmist longs to represent God and the majesty of God, but knows that he cannot without God's strength. We are weak, like babies and infants, and God uses us to show His glory. This is blowing the psalmist's mind, and it blows mine too. God is mindful of us. He cares for us. He wants us to show His glory to the world.

AND!

He wants to help. That's why we have this book, the Bible. If we meditate on it and bind the words in our hearts and minds, then the instruction within will permeate all of our thoughts, our perceptions, and our actions. We will transition into the representation of His glory. It's not an overnight process. We have to continually search after the character of God, and shine those attributes for others to see.

Journey of the Psalms: Judge

2009-11-25T05:38:00.002-08:00

Psalms 7.

Gossip. Rumors. Slander. Scandal. Backstabbing. We've all been a part of these before. These can cause destruction of relationships. David knew about rumors; rumors were floating around about sins he had committed. David, however, knew his innocence and plead before God to bring his accusers to justice. David knew God was a protector of the innocent and the oppressed. David points out that God will judge all of the peoples, and that all people are accountable for their actions.

This brings tremendous comfort to me. I no longer have to wish judgment on anyone. It's very freeing to know that God will handle all things in the end. The guy who cut me off in traffic this morning; I don't have to worry about it. The guy who will cut me off this afternoon; I don't have to worry about it. With this understanding of how the world works, I no longer have to consume my time enraged with other people's actions, and instead, consume my time with the Father.

Journey of the Psalms: Perceptive

2009-11-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

Read Psalms 6.

Weeping, moaning, tears, grief, languishing, troubled, weary. Words like these speak volumes. We all know how the psalmist feels. Such emotion lasts throughout life. This is because of sin. Sin is very powerful. Sin not only separates us from God, but it burdens our souls. Carrying sin around makes one very weary, as this psalm shows.

The psalmist knows a power greater than sin. A power wielded by the one and only true God. The Psalmist is crying out to God. He does not boast his good works, and does not act deserving of grace. He knows his sin has separated him from God, and knows God alone has the power to restore him. The psalmist longs in his heart to be restored to God, and walk in God's ways once more.

God is God. He can do what He wants to do. Do you know what He chooses to do? He listens to us. God, the Creator of the universe, pays attention to us. He hears all. If this psalmist had not spoken these words, but felt in his heart that he longed for God, God would hear. God is perceptive to us. He understands what we really need. Not only does He understand, but He acts. God answers our pleas. Amazing!

Journey of the Psalms: Righteousness

2009-11-23T10:34:00.000-08:00

Read Psalms 5.

The Lord is righteous. He abounds in so much righteousness, that He cannot have any evil in His presence. We can only be in His presence because of His steadfast and abundant love for us. The Lord also leads us in the paths of righteousness, and is the only One Who can. His teachings are what we need to follow. Other teachings lead the way to destruction, and there is no truth in them. Once we follow His teachings, we find God's joy, God's protection, God's refuge, God's blessings, and God's favor.

One of the slang uses of "righteous" means absolutely genuine or wonderful. That describes God pretty well. Wonderful. Absolutely genuine. God is God. God is the only real thing, sorry, Coke. He is the Beginning and the End. He is who He is. Nothing can change the absolute. There is question we have to ask ourselves. Do we want to be genuine or not? I need to explain something. God created the heavens. Does He know how they work? Of course. God created the universe. Doe He know how that works? Of course. God created everything, and He knows how it all works. God created man, and He knows how we work too. He created us not to know everything, so He gave us a book filled with how things work. This book will lead us in the paths of righteousness, and grants us access to the promises God gives to those that follow: joy, protection, refuge, blessings, and favor (plus more). The question is... are we going to follow it?

Journey of the Psalms: Joy Giver

2009-11-17T06:57:00.000-08:00

Read Psalms 4.

My God gives me joy. Joy is not "happyness". Joy is not "stress free" Joy is not a moment. Joy is not a state of mind. Joy is everlasting. Joy is something that's hard to put into words. Joy is definitely only something God can give. Joy is the light of God's face shining through us. Joy is something people see that Christians have, and they want it.

David has been through the hard times. He has seen the wicked and the righteous. David knows the difference. People today still ask for someone who will show good. The only way they can see true good is by God living through us. David instructs them to sacrifice and trust in the Lord. We must sacrifice anything in the way of our worship of God. Money? Sacrifice it to the Lord and trust Him with it. Fear? Sacrifice it to the Lord and trust Him with it. Each time we get closer to total sacrifice and total dependency on God, God gives us more joy. God is the cause joy.

Inspired Song:

I have these fears inside.
I need my spirit set free.
Can I trust You with this?

I trust You, God, on high.
No more holding back.
I trust You, God.

All these worries subside.
Your joy now dwells in me
All my doubts I dismiss!

I love You, God, on high.
No more holding back.
I love You, God.
I love You, God!

Journey of the Psalms: Shield

2009-11-16T05:42:00.000-08:00

Read Psalms 3.

David was in trouble, yet again. David's enemies are growing. Many of them said that God will not save him because his sins were so great. But David knows God. David knows how God has protected him in the past, and how God will protect him in the future. David is taking refuge in God and asking God to take care of him, to be his shield, to protect him. David also knows God does what He wants when He wants, and He saves whom He wants. Salvation belongs to our God and no one else.

A shield is an active piece of defensive weaponry. God is constantly on guard for us. Like David, we must have faith in God to do what He promises. To have faith in God is to follow His teachings. Faith requires action. His teachings are how to have a sustained life.

Journey of the Psalms: Refuge

2009-11-14T08:07:00.001-08:00

Read Psalms 2.

The Lord's plans cannot be changed. The Lord actually laughed at those who thought they could change His will. David is warning those who scoff at God's plans. He tells them they will perish and predicts the coming of Jesus. David offers the people a bit of hope; those who are faithful to the Son will find refuge in Him.

To me, refuge means safety, a place no harm will come to me, a place the King worries about everything, a place I can rest, a place of restoration. God is my refuge. That is amazing to me. I've known it, but I've never realized how big and awesome the refuge of God can be. It is said to be anxious for nothing but let your requests be known to God. Our God is amazing, and wants to give us rest, peace, restoration, and safety that surpasses all that we know. I cannot explain it, but it does happen, and I thank God for that.

Inspired song:

Lord, I want to kiss your Son.
Give me peace, give me rest.
Restore my soul, oh, God!

Lord, I cannot explain You.
I can feel Your refuge.
Restore my soul, oh, God!

Help me be faithful.
Help me be peaceful.
Help me be thankful.
Jesus, we wait for You.

Journey of the Psalms: Streams of Water

2009-11-13T13:11:00.001-08:00

Please read Psalms 1.

God's law is like streams of water that brings life and prospers the man who meditates on His law. The water does not let the man wither. The water provides the ability to produce fruit. Streams of water are also active, constantly providing resources. They are fresh and refreshing. God, also, refreshes and provides for all things.

The streams of water is compared to the law of the Lord. The wisdom in the law provides men with the way of the righteous, whom God watches over. The law keeps us from the counsel of the wicked, keeps us from the way of sinners, and makes us last. Those that do not follow the law will perish.

Inspired song:

You are the stream of water.
You are the stream of life.
My God refreshes me.
My God is alive!

God, Your law is light.
On it, I think at night.
Please, God, watch over me.
Don't let my spirit wilt.

Humility

2009-08-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

Colossians 3:12 - Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering

Humility

In Greek:
Humility – Tapeinofrosuvnh “tap-i-nof-ros-oo’-nay”
1. Having a humble opinion of one’s self.
2. A deep sense of one’s littleness.
3. Modesty.
Humble – Tapeinoo “tap-i-no’-o”
1. To behave in an unassuming manner.

Story of Job - There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. This man was the greatest of all the people of the East. Satan says to God, “You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land, but, if You destroyed all that Job has, he would curse You to Your face!” So Job loses everything, eventually his health, as well, but never curses God. However, God does say something to Job.

Read Job 38: 2 – 3. How would those words from the mouth of God make you feel? I would feel insignificant, terrified, and stupid. What did Job say to cause this reaction from God?

Read Job 31: 4 – 6, 11, and 35. What does Job want?

Read Job 40: 11 – 12. What does God say?

Read Job 42: 1 – 6. What is Job’s response to God’s questions?

After Job humbles himself before the Lord, God restores Job’s losses. God gave Job twice as much as he had before. All his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold. Job was blessed even more than in the beginning. Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations, and when Job died, he died old and full of days.

What is the opposite of humility? What is pride? In Greek:
Pride – Ajlazoneiva “al-ad-zon-i’-a”
1. A disrespectful and empty assurance, which trusts in its own power
and resources and disgracefully hates and breaks divine laws and
human rights.

Pride is the root of all sin. When we sin, we are saying to God that we think our way is better than His way. We think we can use our power to fix things.

Read Matthew 6: 25 – 34. What is Jesus saying here?

Read John 15:5. What can we do with our own power? Apart from God, we can do nothing.

Read Philippians 4:13. What can we do with God’s power? Anything is possible.

Matthew 10: 32 – 33. How do we gain access to God’s power? We need to confess God to men.

Read Philippians 2: 3 – 4. What is Paul saying here? What are some ways we can acknowledge God to men on a daily basis?

Read Philippians 2: 5 – 11. How did Jesus become one of us? What did Jesus allow to happen? Why? Did Jesus look out for His own interests?

We have to realize how small our interests are, and to put God’s interests first in our lives. We realize how much we have to rely on God and not on ourselves.

Read Matthew 5: 3 – 10. If we do not humble ourselves and change our interests to God’s interests, how much of this list can we accomplish? If we look out for ourselves, how will we ever be persecuted for God?

Joseph went through some hard times. His brothers beat him and sold him into slavery. He was thrown in prison, but innocent of his crime. From prison, he was able to attain favor with the ruler, and was second in command. Due to his dreams, he saved food for the coming famine. His brothers and father have to come to the country, because it is the only country with food. Joseph recognizes his brothers, and, after he helps them, they are afraid.

Read Genesis 50: 15 – 21. What did the brothers do? What was Joseph’s reaction?

They humble themselves in front of him, but Joseph does not use this against them.

This is a forecast for the future.

We beat on God. We slapped Him in the face. We told Him love was not the way. We crucified Him on a cross. But when we seek Him, when we seek His forgiveness, when we seek His righteousness, when we need Him, God, the awesome God, in a way only He can, gives us what we ask of Him. We have to humble ourselves to Him. He will provide food during the famine. He will provide for all of us who seek Him.

New Series: What is it like to be "New" in Christ?

2009-08-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

As some of you have undoubtedly have noticed, I went from Movement Four to Movement Six. I did not skip, but combined movements into the bigger chapter. The teaching does stand alone, but I feel I need to dive into this new identity. There are questions that need to be asked. Questions that need to be answered. Questions like, "What does this new identity look like?" and "How do we overcome our old identity's habits?" and "How do I add these new characteristics to my life?" and more.

A great starting place is to know the traits of this new identity. Once we know more about each trait, we can add them to our lives. As I have been doing this study, I have been applying more and more of these traits to my life, and what I have found is that as the trait is applied, it's a behavior change. For example, the person I am in Christ does not yell at people for going slow in the fast lane; however, I have an issue with this. My anger surges when people are not efficient, especially while driving. A new practice I have is to just sing God's praises louder. I still mess up, old habits die hard, but this is not sin management, because I am learning who I am in Christ, and what He would do.

My next series of lessons are based on the scripture from Colossians 3:12, "Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience," (ESV).

Stay tuned.

Movement Six: New

2009-05-22T06:25:00.000-07:00

Rob was having lunch with a guy who was telling Rob about a struggle he had been having for a while with sin. He said he knew he was a sinner and that he was falling and that he would keep committing this one sin, and he knew he was going to keep committing this one sin because he was a sinner and his nature was evil and there was nothing he could do about it because he was a sinner... Do I have to go on?

His question was, "Why do I struggle like this?"

The problem was that his system was perfectly designed to achieve the results he was getting. His system: He is convinced he is a sinner, convinced he is going to sin, and he has no hope against sin because it's in his nature. It's no wonder he wonders why he sins.

This mindset makes us feel guilty... it guilts us into doing something for God. I don't think this is what Jesus had in mind.

But what is the message? What did Jesus have in mind? How should people feel about themselves?

The Bible gives us a clear answer. Read 2 Corinthians 5:17. When we become Christians, a fundamental change takes place in our identity. Our old identity ceases to exist.

What are some of the characteristics of our new identity? Read Colossians 3: 12-17
What are we supposed to do? How can we start doing these things right now, today?
This is who we are. In Philippians 3:16, Paul tells us to "live up to what we have already attained." What have we attained?

What does this mean for the Christian life? To begin, Christians are people learning who they are in Christ. We are being taught about our new identity. Do you see how deeply this new identity affects the life of a community? I heard a teacher say that if people were taught more about who they are, they wouldn't have to be told what to do. It would come naturally. When people spend most of their time convincing others not to sin, we see a people who have missed the point. The point is not "sin management." The point is who we are now in Christ. Sin has already been managed. We could not manage it ourselves so Jesus died on the cross for ALL sin. ALL people. Everywhere. Every tribe, every tongue, and every nation.

Read Colossians 1:20. How many people did Jesus reconcile?

Jesus died on the cross for all sin. This is the reality. Our choice is to live in this new reality or cling to a reality of our own making. The reality is that all of the bad parts of our lives, the ugly parts of our lives, and the parts of our lives we wish never happened are all forgiven. Sometimes we find ourselves asking, "Am I really forgiven for that?" We feel like it is too good to be true. But the amazing thing is... IT IS TRUE! We can trust in this reality that God has created where we are forgiven, or we can trust in the story we spin for ourselves. It's a choice we make every day about the reality we live in. We can choose to live in God's reality, or in our reality void of God. The realities extend beyond this physical life. Heaven is a place where people live in God's reality. Hell is a place where people live in their own reality, void of God's existence. People from Heaven and Hell have been forgiven; Jesus paid it ALL! What we believe about these realities determines the path each of us will take.

When we choose God's reality of who we are, we are living as God made us to live. We are living in the flow of how we are going to live forever. This is the life of Heaven. If we live this life in harmony with God's intentions for us, Heaven becomes more present in our lives. Heaven comes to Earth (Matthew 6:10). There is this place, this reality, Heaven, where things are as God desires them to be. As we live this way, Heaven comes here, to the place we are living in, today.

Now, if there is a life of heaven, and we can choose it, there there's also another life, and we can choose it as well. A reality of living out of sync with how God created us to live. The word for this reality is Hell. Hell is the reality absent of how God desires things to be. Just like we can bring Heaven to Earth, we can also bring Hell to Earth. It is our choice.

For Jesus, this new kind of life in Him is not about escaping this world, but about making it a better place, here and now. It's about showing God's love to the world. The goal for Jesus isn't to get a ticket to Heaven. The goal is to bring Heaven to Earth, to get Heaven here, today. Read Revelation 21:3.

God made us in His image. We reflect the beauty and creativity and wonder of the God who made us. Jesus wants us to return to our true selves, the ones God intends us to be, before we veered off course. God wants you to be you. He doesn't need a second anybody. God knew exactly what He was doing when He make you. There are no accidents, no coincidences. God wants you to embrace your true identity, who are you in Christ, letting this new awareness transform your life.

This is what Jesus had in mind.

This is what brings Heaven to Earth.

Adoption Message

2009-04-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

I put both a sermon I heard from Randy, and Kelly and I's story of adoption, to present the gospel in a new format. When I say new, I probably mean old, because Paul also knew that adoption was the heart of the gospel when he presented the message to the Romans.

Adoption is to choose or to take one’s own child or to make one’s own child by selection, to take and raise a child by a formal act, or to take or receive a child in any new kind of relationship.

There are many benefits of being adopted:

1. Having a mom and a dad
2. Love and Security
3. Becoming part of a family
4. Inheritance

The deepest and strongest foundation of adoption is not located in humans adopting humans, but in God adopting us. Here are the steps we went through with our adoption, both our own spiritual adoption, and S’s physical adoption.

Step 1 : Adopted children are chosen. – When we adopted, we had to make all of the decisions about who we wanted to adopt: country, gender, age, special needs, race, etc. We had to make these decisions. We had to make a decision about pursuing medical treatment for a natural birth, which would be expensive, and may not bring us a baby. We had to make tons of decisions. When we went through the home study, a process I will talk more in depth in a minute, we thought that any child that needed a home would be the child for us, but we did have limitations. We wanted from zero to two years of age, and we wanted a child that was not suffering from a terminal illness, because we would not be able to handle the pain of losing one so quickly.

God chooses also. From the very beginning of creation, God has had you and I in mind. He knows our country, our gender, our age, our special needs, our race, and everything else about us. God wants all of us as children. Adoption is not God’s Plan B. He chose us before the foundation of the world. It is His Plan A. God knew that S was going to live with us, be part of our household, and fulfill everything God created her for. He has the same aspirations for you. God believes we can do incredible things in His name. Peter got out and walked on the water, because he saw Jesus doing it. When Peter sinks in the water, it’s not because he loses faith in Jesus; it’s because he lost faith in himself to be like that God. I want everyone here to know that God is the eternal optimist. God believes in you and wants the best for you. He wants all of us as children.

Step 2: Going through the legal action – Justification. Justification means that someone has to stand on behalf of those who cannot stand for themselves. Kelly and Nathan have gone through so much red tape in order to adopt Sasha. Sasha could not have done this on her own; we had to stand up and be accountable for her. Back in the beginning of 2007, Kelly and I started our road to adoption. We had some help from a couple who had adopted from Taiwan, Korea, and domestically. Through them we learned we needed a home study. A home study is where they come to where you live, check out your apartment, run all kinds of tests on our blood, question us to find out why we were adopting, question us over how we would discipline our child, showed us the differences between domestic and international adoption, and many other things. Basically, these people determined our ability to be parents. Once we got their approval, we were able to start filling out applications with adoption agencies, which would also do their own analysis as well. This process took forever, and is still going on. Once we were matched with the birthmother, we had to jump through a lot of hoops at the hospital just to get her out of the building! After taking her home, we had to start going through a court process to legally say she is our child. This process will be finalized on April 17!!!

In the Old Testament, God gives the chosen people, the Israelites, a law. This law required them to live a certain way, and when they did not live that way, there was punishment. God’s law demands justice for disobedience. In the Old Testament, God had a way of satisfying the justice by providing a way to be reconciled to God. There had to be a sacrifice for each disobedient act. A sacrifice would have to be the blood of an innocent animal, crops of food, or burning a special incense. In the New Testament, God satisfied His justice and His law in order to adopt everyone, not just the Israelites, into His family. He did it through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus stood for us when we were not able to stand for ourselves. His sacrifice provided our innocence. He satisfied all the legal work for us.

Step 3: Paying the adoption expenses. S’s adoption costs were expensive. These costs include emotional costs, physical costs, and financial costs. When we were searching for Sasha to become parents, we knew the costs and sufferings that we have had to sacrifice to provide S with a home full of love and hope. When we started the adoption process, we had another little girl in mind from Taiwan, Chia Ling. We bought clothes, bought frames for the pictures the agencies were sending us, started learning Chinese culture. However, through the contact of many adoption agencies, we learned that we were not financially prepared to take on this international adoption. We chilled for awhile and mourned the loss of the failed adoption of Chia Ling. The next process we went through was for a little boy named Gabriel. Gabriel was born and had a diagnosis of a brain disorder. When we talked with the agency, they assured us that this was the work of God and that the disorder was not fatal, and also had not shown any signs that it was affecting Gabriel. We did not buy any clothes this time in fear of failure. The adoption agency approved us and we were ecstatic! Joy was abounding off the walls, but they still wanted us to take the x-rays of his brain to a neurosurgeon for a diagnosis from a medical professional. Meeting with the doctor was not good news. He told us all that we would have to do to take care of him, and it was likely that Gabriel would pass away. That devastated us. I had to call the agency to tell them that we would not be able to care for Gabriel in the way he needed. That was the hardest call of my life. Again, we mourned the loss of another adoption. However, we did not see God’s hand at work. During the failed Chia Ling adoption, that was when S was being conceived, and during the failed Gabriel adoption, that’s when the birthmother chose life for her baby. Soon after the failed adoption of Gabriel, we had another situation arise. A birthmother was due within a month and a half, and needed a family to choose. We were able to meet with her, and after talking with her, we were very cautious in our emotions. Within a couple of days, she choose us, and told us later that after she met with us, she stopped having nightmares, which started after she went to the clinic. The rest of the story is going to the hospital and spending time with her as she gave birth to S, then we finally took our baby home.

We were also bought for a price. God needed a way to reconcile us to Him. Jesus came down from heaven to become a man. As a man, Jesus followed all of the laws of God. While Jesus was on earth, He showed many people that He was God’s Son by performing miracles and fulfilling the prophecies in the Old Testament. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He was providing a perfect sacrifice to reconcile all of us to God. God knows the physical sufferings Jesus had to go through to allow us to be adopted. God knows the emotional costs that losing Jesus caused for both of them. God knows all of the costs, and He knows we are worth the cost of redemption. He wants to provide us with a home full of love and hope through adoption. God especially knows the cost of people who turn their back to Him. That hurts Him so badly, but he continues to pursue us, putting aside the pain, longing for a restored relationship with His children.

Step 4: The planning of the adoption – At this point, we were willing to do anything. We were always prepared, at any moment, to drive to the hospital to be with S’s birthmother. We had done the selection process, we had done the legal action, we had paid the price, and now we had to wait.

God is also waiting. At this point, God has done everything. The selection process, the legal action, God paid the expenses. Now, he is waiting. He is waiting for us to come to Him. He wants to provide for us. He wants to give us rest. He wants us not to worry. He wants us to have peace. He wants us to love others as He loved us. He wants us to call Him, Daddy.

We get to call Jesus’ Daddy our own Daddy. We get the ultimate love and security of having our heavenly Daddy being able to provide for us. In the Bible, Paul used the word adoption because in Roman law, adoption was synonymous with permanence. Basically, a biological child could be written out of their inheritance, but if a child was adopted, they could not be written out of their inheritance. It cannot be taken away. It is permanent. As an adopted child of God, we get to share in the inheritance of Christ. In the New Testament, Jesus tells his disciples that after He has departed from this earth, He will be preparing a place for His disciples to come home to. The disciples were the first people to hear the Gospel. Imagine the excitement! No wonder it is called “Good News.” They get to tell everyone in the world that God wants to adopt them. They get to tell everyone that God cares about them. They get to spread the message of the Gospel to others, and those others are adopted and become disciples and spread the word to others.

One of our friends, Randy and Teresa, went to pick up their child in Taiwan, Jeremiah. When they went to pick Jeremiah up, his face, arms and legs were covered with mosquito bites. None of his clothes fit, and his shoes were too big. He was 17 months old and could not walk; he could stand, but could not walk. He stayed 20 hours a day in a playpen. Every day he ate gruel, which is boiled rice. He never slept more than 3 hours at a time because he was in a room with 30 other children with the lights on all the time.

You’d expect that Jeremiah would want to run away and leave that place, right? He held on to the caregiver with everything he had, screaming at the top of his lungs. Believe it or not, he wanted to stay there. This is because he was comfortable with what he had. What he had was terrible.

When Jeremiah was on the way home, he did not know that he will have clothes that fit. He will have his health taken care of. He will have shoes that fit. He will be eating popsicles, and he will be smiling. He has parents that will love him and provide for him.

Are you holding on to things in your life that are preventing you from having a personal relationship with your heavenly Daddy? Are you holding on to things because they are comfortable, even though they are not of God?

This is what Jeremiah was doing. He did not know what was on the other side. There was no way he could know until he came home. In the same way, there is no way to know the love of God, our Daddy, unless you want to join His family. Would you like to join His family today?

There is a plan of salvation that refers to certain scriptures in the Bible that have enormous importance for the decision that you are about to make. It’s a matter of FAITH:

F is for Forgiveness – We cannot have eternal life and heaven without God’s forgiveness. Read Ephesians 1:7

A is for Available – Forgiveness is available for all, but not automatic – Read John 3:16 and Matthew 7:21

I is for Impossible – It is impossible for God to allow sin into heaven: because of who He is; God is loving and just; his judgment is against sin; Because of who we are: every person is a sinner. Read James 2:13 and Read Romans 3:23

T is for Turn – Turn means to repent. Turn from something. Sin and self. Turn to Someone. Trust Christ only – Read Luke 13:3 and Read Romans 10:9

H is for Heaven – Heaven is eternal life. Here and hereafter – Read John 10:10 and John 14:3

How can a person have God’s forgiveness, heave, and eternal life, and Jesus as personal Savior and Lord? By trusting in Christ and asking Him for forgiveness. Take the step of faith described by another meaning of FAITH: Forsaking All I Trust Him.

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and have displeased You in many ways. I believe You died for my sin and only through faith in Your death and resurrection can I be forgiven. I want to turn from my sin and ask You to come into my life as my Savior and Lord. From this day on, I will follow You by living a life that pleases you. Thank You, Lord Jesus for saving me. Amen.”

After you have received Jesus Christ into your life, tell a Christian friend about this important decision you have made. Follow Christ in believer’s baptism and church membership. Grow in your faith and enjoy new friends, brothers, and sisters in Christ by becoming a part of His church. There you will find others who will love and support you.

Movement Four: Tassels

2009-04-03T04:45:00.000-07:00

I'm an accountant, so today we start in what should be my "favorite" book in the Bible.

Numbers 15: 38 – 40

What did God have the people do? – Tassels on clothing
Why? – Visual Reminder
What types of visual reminders can we use to daily remind us that God is with us?

The ancient rabbis knew the power of visual reminders. The tassel they used was most likely a shawl type piece of clothing.

1 Samuel 24:4

What did David do? – Cut off Saul’s tassel
Why did David do this? – He visual made a statement; Saul not longer remembered God.

Malachi 4:2
What will this person talked about in Malachi do? – Have healing in his wings
Who is Malachi talking about? – Jesus, the Sun of righteousness.

The word for “wings” is kanaf, which is the same word used in Numbers for the “edge of the garment.” People in Jesus day knew the Torah and abided by it, so Jesus would have word one of these garments because he was a Torah-observant Jewish rabbi.

Luke 8: 43 – 38
Why did the woman touch His clothes? – She believed the prophecy in Malachi.
What does Jesus say to the woman? – Go in peace.

The word Jesus would have used in Hebrew is shalom. Shalom is one of those words that do not have a direct translation to English. It means more than simply peace. Many of us understand peace to be the absence of conflict. Shalom is far more than absence of conflict; it’s the presence of the goodness of God, the presence of wholeness and completeness.

So when Jesus tells the woman to go in peace, He is place the blessing of God on all of her, not just her physical body. Jesus blesses her with God’s presence on her entire body. This is because for Jesus, salvation is holistic in nature; for Jesus, being saved or reconciled to God involves far more than saving our physical bodies or our souls. God’s desire is for us to live in harmony with Him, body, soul, spirit, mind, emotions, and every inch of our being.

For Jesus, salvation is far more than a transaction; humans are guilty with sin and Jesus died for those sins. Salvation is more comprehensive – it is a way of life. To be saved is to enter a totally new way of living in harmony with God. Salvation is living more and more in harmony with God; a process that will go on forever.

From the legal-transaction perspective, the point of the cross becomes what has been done for us. Yes, there is the once-and-for-all work of Jesus dying on the cross. No more has to be offered or sacrificed. Jesus’ death perfectly satisfies God. Let’s alter the phrase. Instead of saying that the point of the cross if what is done for us; let’s say the work of the cross in us. There is an ongoing need to return to the cross to be reminded of our dependence on God. There is healing we need from the cross every single day, which leads to forgiveness.

The point of the cross is not forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to something much bigger: restoration. God wants to make us into the people we were originally created to be. Jesus constantly teaches us to become the kind of people who are generous, loving, and compassionate. The goal isn’t not to sin. Our purpose is to increase the shalom of this world. It’s not about what you don’t do. The point is to become more and more the kind of people God has had in mind since we have been created.

John 5:24 – At what point do we pass into eternal life and avoid condemnation? - The moment of belief

Jesus is not the ticket to heaven. We already cross from death to life at belief. Jesus' message was to teach us how to live today. We need a God for now, we need healing now, and we need help now. Salvation is now.

Ephesians 1:10 – What did Paul say here? – All things restored through Christ.

Salvation is the entire universe being brought back to harmony with its Creator. Yes, we can invite Jesus into our hearts, but salvation does not stop there. We are able to join a movement to restore all creation. This is God’s desire. He told us to spread the good news to all nations, to the ends of the earth. God wants all peoples restored to Him. This is what Jesus accomplishes on the cross. Restoration. It’s one thing to be saved and to believe in Jesus. It’s quite another thing to be restored.

Salvation is for all parts of us. Some of us have massive areas in our lives that have been unaffected by salvation. Jesus wants to restore and heal these parts of our soul.

Here’s an example from my life. When I was in high school, I was short and unpopular. I thought I will make good grades to go to college, where I will finally get taller and be able to do something with my life. During college, I did get taller, but my aspirations changed. I thought once I get out and get a job, I will be able to make money and be able to make the world a better place. Well, I got out of college and got a job, but then I thought that once I had a family, things would start to fall into place. Well, further down the marriage life, I thought if I really applied myself to the job and made more money, I’d be able to provide better for my wife and provide an education opportunity like I had for baby S. I had issues. Every time I reached a milestone, those issues just got bigger. My issue was success. I thought I just had to try harder or get further down life’s road and then things would happen. I grew up in the American dream, where anything is possible if we push for it hard enough.

John 3:30

What two people are being mentioned by John the Baptist? John and Jesus
What must we do? We must decrease, and He must increase

I was doing things and making plans for "noble kingdom" activity, but I realized that God could be doing noble things using me right here. Right now. Today. This hit me like a ton of bricks landing on my foot. Ouch, but I'm not knocked out. I realized that I had been pushing to succeed, and was trying to do everything for God, instead of letting God work through me. I realized that I don't have to live like this. The Word of God combined with the Spirit, along with other Godly wisdom, opened my eyes and convicted me of my own uselessness, but also made me aware of how much potential I have for God’s use, right now. These issues we have surrounding our souls and our identities will not go away, no matter how much we succeed. They actually become bigger. These issues must be hunted down, identified and dealt with.

We often live under the illusion that when we reach our goals or complete our mission that the issues inside will disappear. Success doesn’t fix anything; we have the same problems, only now, more stress and more problems and more pressure.

There are reasons why we do things. Its often the result of something that is the result of something that is the result of something. We need to go deep into why we do things; we have to be willing to drag it up and give it to Jesus for cleansing.

Jesus wants to heal our souls, to give us the shalom of God, and so we have to stop. We have to slow down. We have to sit still and listen to the Spirit of God. It’s hard to listen to Him while we are bustling around and doing things where we miss out on what God is trying to tell us. We need to heed God’s word and take a Sabbath, and let Jesus heal our souls.

Movement Three: Truth

2009-03-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

I remember when Sasha, my daughter, was born. Just a few months ago, K, K’s mom, and I were headed home. We got a call from our attorney telling us that the birthmother, A, was at the hospital asking for us because she was in labor. As you can imagine, we rushed to the hospital. We finally got through all the red tape at the hospital and ended up in her room. We both stayed with her until the time for the surgery. We had been thinking of naming our daughter, K S, but after some precious moments with A, we changed her name to S K. The time came for her emergency C-section and they only would allow one of us back there with her, so K went with her, and I went and waited in the room S would be brought to. The anticipation was huge. My life was changing that night forever. All these thoughts of what kind of father I would be and other pressures of how to take of my daughter were also rushing through my mind. After S was born, the nurse came and found me and brought me to the nursery. When I saw my newborn daughter, I was overwhelmed by the goodness of it all. Sasha was the first baby I have ever held, and I could barely talk. This moment made me speechless, and it is still hard to describe it.

What I find fascinating is how many of us have had similar moments like these when we were overwhelmed with the presence of something or somebody so… and it is hard to find the words here, so good, so right, so safe, so true. Warmth, comfort, awe. We all have our own ways of trying to describe these moments.

What is it about certain things that ignite something within? And is that something actually Someone?

Whatever those things are that make you feel fully alive and like the universe is ultimately a good place and you are not alone, I need a faith that doesn’t deny these moments, but embraces them. I need a spiritual understand that celebrates these transcendent moments instead of avoiding them. They can’t be experiences that distract from “real” faith. They are expressions of what it means to live in God’s world.

Rob Bell has some friends ask him to do their wedding ceremony, but they didn’t want God, Jesus, Bible or religion to be talked about, but they wanted it spiritual. The bride told Rob to make it profound, deep, and spiritual. So they met on a cliff overlooking a lake in the midst of a thick forest. Rob asked them why they chose such a natural, organic setting, and they talked about the beauty, peacefulness, and the way they fell in love in that part of the state. The groom said, “Something holds all this together.” They decided that the same “something” that held it all together was the same “something” that brought them together and that their wedding day was part of something much bigger and decided to call this “something”, God.

Basically, these people intuitively believed certain things about the universe, and Rob just asked them questions that they already knew the answers to. The ancient rabbis and prophets had these same types of spiritual experiences.

Isaiah 6:3 – What did Isaiah have a vision of? What were the angels saying?
In Hebrew, the word for glory is kavod, which means weight or significance. To put what the angels were saying another way, “The earth is filled with the weight and significance of God”

Psalms 24:1 ; 139:7 – What is the earth drenched in?

God is not somewhere else. God is right here. It’s God’s world. God made it. God owns it. And God is present everywhere in it.

Genesis 28:16 – What did Jacob not realize?

I’ve heard people tell stories about something powerful the happened and at the end of the story, they say, “And then God showed up” as if He were somewhere else and decided to intervene, but God is always present. We are the ones who show up.

Romans 1:20 – What has been made that shows God’s invisible qualities?

The whole earth is full of the kavod of God. This truth is everywhere. It’s here, there; it’s all over. Not only is the truth everywhere, not only is the whole earth filled with the kavod of God, but the truth is available to everyone.

Romans 2:14 – What is it that the Gentiles are missing?

Gentiles are people who do not follow God, and law is Paul’s word for the Scriptures. So he says that people who don’t know anything about the God are able to do the right thing on a regular basis. With no instruction from God or the Bible, these people are able to live, from time to time, as God created.

Titus 1:12-13 ; Acts 17:28 – What is Paul saying about what these other people said?

Paul is quoting Cretan prophets and poets of Mars Hill, people who did not believe in God, and is using their statements and makes them about God. He doesn’t care who said it or who they were saying it about. What they said was true and Paul claims those truths.

In 1 Corinthians 3: 21 and 23, Pauls tells us that it all belongs to God, and Christ is God, and we are of Christ, so it all belongs to us. If it is true, if it is beautiful, if it is honorable, if it is right, then claim it, because these things are from God, and you belong to God.

As Christians, we are free to claim the good, the true, the holy wherever and whenever we find it. When we don’t have this knowledge that everything is ours to claim, if we only have room for truth of the Bible, if we only believe Christianity is the only thing that is true, when we come across truths that are outside of the Bible, such as, 1 + 1 = 2, we have a dilemma: intellectual honesty or Jesus? People experience truth in new ways everyday and they need a faith that is big enough to handle it. Otherwise, if faith has no room for more truth, the box gets blown apart.

In John 14:6, Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If we come across truth, it is not outside our faith as a Christian, our faith just got bigger.It is not that truth is over here and Jesus is over there. Where we find one, we find the other. Jesus has freed us to embrace whatever is true and good and beautiful wherever we find it.

John 1: 1-3; 14 – What is the Word referring to?

Word in Greek is Logos, which is where we get our word for logic. Logic, intelligence, design. Blueprint of creation. When we speak of these concepts, what we are describing is the way the world is arranged. There is some sort of order under the chaos and some people have a better handle of it than others. When we say someone is intelligent, we are saying they have insight into how things are. Such as, an auditor knows how financial statements are arranged, but a car mechanic knows how a V8 is arranged. Both are intelligent and see how certain things are, and have a getter handle on those certain things than others.

Jesus is the Word, the Logic, the Intelligence. We follow someone that has supreme intelligences. He knows how all things are. He has insight into how the world really works and how it was created to work. We follow His teachings because they are how to live the way we were supposed to live. For Jesus, the point of religion is to help us connect with God.

Colossians 2:17 – What did Paul say about reality?

One of the first things God does in creating the world is separating the dark and the light, which also distinguishes between dark and light. The rest of the Scriptures is God teaching people how to distinguish between dark and light, teaching people to discern right and wrong, clean and unclean, true and false, dark and light. What brings death and what brings life.

As Christians, we don’t need to cut ourselves off from real life; we need to enter it more fully. It is a journey into the heart of how things really are.

Colossians 3:17 – What does Paul say about the stuff we do?

Everything we do, we need to do in the name of Jesus. Everything becomes sacred because we start recognizing God has always been there, here, everywhere. Moses took off his sandals because the ground was holy. How many times did he pass this place while herding his sheep? He was just so busy that he never was aware of the holiness of that place. The same things happen to us. We get caught into routines and just miss out on the kavod of God all around us.God doesn’t show up; we do; he is already here, all around us. Whatever is passionate, love, or exhilarating is from God. Wherever we find what makes us feels alive, our souls soar, our hearts good, our lives honorable, we find God.

Movement Two: Yoke

2009-03-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

As Christians, we orient our lives around studying, reading teaching, and trying to understand the Bible. The Bible is the most mysterious book. The more insight we gain, the more we realize how much we don’t know. It inspires, encourages, frustrates, and provokes. The Bible is the most amazing, beautiful, deep, inspired, engaging collection of writings ever.

But sometimes when I hear people quote the Bible, I want to throw up. Sometimes people will back up their points with Bible quotes, and everything within me says “There’s no way that’s what God meant.” For example, the verse that has been used to oppress and mistreat women. There are verses before and after and in other places in the Bible that suggest women have the authority over men, and men must submit to their wives as Christ submitted to the church, basically, He died for us, the church. The point here is that it is possible to make the Bible say whatever we want to.

Let’s take a straightforward verse, Leviticus 19:18. Even people who don’t believe in God would agree that loving your neighbor is a good thing to do. But even this simple verse raises questions: How do we live this verse out? What does it mean to love? What isn’t love? Who is your neighbor? Is your neighbor next door or is it every single human being on the planet?

Who decides the answers to these questions? Who decides if they made the right decisions? Someone has to make decisions about this verse. Someone has to decide what it looks like to put flesh and blood on this command. The verse has to be interpreted, because if it isn’t, the verse can’t be put into action. Somebody has to decide what it means to love your neighbor.

The ancient rabbis understood that that Bible has to be interpreted, and they understood their role in the community was to study, meditate, discuss, pray, and then make those decisions. A rabbi would put actions into two categories: things the rabbi allowed and things the rabbi disallowed. Example, Exodus 20:8, one rabbi would day you could walk a certain distance, and another rabbi would say you could walk farther, but had other limitations. Different rabbis had different sets of rules, basically, lists of things they allowed and disallowed. These rules came from their interpretations of the Scriptures, and it was called a yoke. When you followed a rabbi’s teachings, you were taking up that rabbi’s yoke. . Jewish culture was about action, so taking up the yoke did not mean to know it, it meant to live it.

The rabbis had technical terms for allowing and disallowing. Allowing was known as loosing, and disallowing was known as binding. So the rabbi would bind and loose certain actions. Eventually, the rabbi would give his students the authority to bind and loose. This was called “giving the keys of the kingdom.” (Matthew 16:19)

Jesus gave us, his followers, authority to make new interpretations of the Bible. Also when we do debate, discuss, pray, wrestle with the texts and then make decisions about the Bible, somehow God is involved.

The Bible is a communal book. Back in the days, one town may have one copy of the Scriptures. It was written to people in community with each other. Binding and loosing can only be done in community. This way one person could never get too far in a twisted interpretation because others would be able to give him or her insights and perspectives he or she would not have had. (Matthew 28: 18-20) Everyone’s interpretations are based on their perspectives.

People are still doing this today. Ever notice the vast selection of interpretations of the Bible? There are the HCSB, NIV, NIR, KJV, NKJV, CEV, and many other editions in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and many, many other languages. There are words in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic that do not directly translate into English which leaves the translators with the challenge of how to best represent the text. I’m sure they asked colleagues, prayed, and reviewed their translation many times until deciding that it seemed good to them and the Holy Spirit. (Acts 15:19) What if we were to say about everything we do “It seems good to the Holy Spirit.”

We can only bind and loose if we believe the Bible is as alive today as it was ever. God brought the Israelites from the kingdom of Egypt, where they were slaves, into freedom, and God continues to do this day. Everyday, God brings people, who were in darkness and bondage, slaves to their sins, into freedom and light, and continues to bring us out. It happened then, and it happens now. David and Goliath. Adam and the Apple. This is why the Bible is so powerful: these ancient stories are our stories. These stories are reflective of how things are.

The rabbis would say the Bible was like a gem with seventy faces, and each time you turn the gem, the light changes, giving you a reflection you have not seen before. The Bible has authority because God has authority and this book is a collection of stories that teach us about what it looks like when God is at work through people. This is why binding and loosing is so exhausting and exhilarating. We can only do it if we believe and see God at work now, here in this place. The Bible tells a story; a story that isn’t over; a story that is being told; a story that we have a part to play in.

At some point we have to have faith. Faith, that God is capable of guiding people; faith, that God has not left us alone; faith, that the same Spirit who guided Paul and Peter is still with us today. To bind and loose, we have to wade in and deal with all the parts of the Bible, the good parts, the bad parts, the parts we wish were not there, and the hard to understand parts. In Genesis 32, we find a metaphor for struggling with the Bible. Jacob is wrestling with an angel, and during the struggle, his hip was injured. God ends up blessing Jacob, but he still walks away limping. When we wrestle with the text, we walk away limping.

I think God knows what he is doing with the Bible. The question is, do we know what we are doing with the Bible? I believe the answer is yes, because every time we come together to discuss the Word, we are binding, loosing, wrestling, and limping away.

God has spoken, the rest is commentary, right?

Movement One: Jump

2009-03-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Everybody is following somebody. Everybody makes decisions everyday about what is important, how to treat people, and what to do with our lives. Everybody gets their perspectives from influences during their life.

Who can influence us? (Parents, Teachers, Mentors, Scientists, Doctors, Siblings, Children, Girlfriends, Pastors, Wives, etc)

From these people, we learn how to view the world, and how to interact with it; our way of living. Everybody has faith in something and somebody. In our discussions about what matters most, we aren’t talking about faith or no faith, belief or no belief. We are talking about faith in what or belief in what. The question is not whether we have, but whether we have it or not.

As Christians, we are trying to orient ourselves around living a particular kind of way, the kind of way Jesus taught was possible, and we think that the way of Jesus is the best possible way to live. Our faith is not irrational, blind or primitive, we are simply being honest that everyone is living a way based on perspectives.

What do our old perspectives revolve around and produce? (Gal. 5: 19-21)
What do our new perspectives revolve around and produce? (Gal. 5: 22-23)

We are convinced that being generous, forgiving people, having compassion, pursuing peace in every situation, listening to wisdom, and being honest are the best ways to live. We are trying to follow Jesus.

In Colossians 3: 10, we have put on the “new” man, and are being “renewed” in knowledge according to the image of our Creator.

What were human beings created as? (Genesis 1:27)

Jesus lived as we are supposed to in God’s image. We were made to be an image of God. This is how things are meant to be. Jesus exposes us to reality at its rawest. It’s not about religion; it’s about lining ourselves up with how things are.

How did the Israelites describe God? (Deuteronomy 4: 12; 15)

This was a revolutionary in the history of religion. In Moses’ day, gods people followed were honored were by making sculptures of them and bowing down to the sculptures. Moses tells the people that no sculpture could ever capture this God. This is because God has no boundaries, no limits, no edges, and no end. This truth about God is why study and discussion and doctrines are so necessary. They help us put words to realities beyond words. They give us insight and understanding into the experience of God we are having. But these “springs” only work when the serve the greater cause: finding our lives in Christ.

So we take this way of living and compare it to jumping on a trampoline. The act of jumping is living as God intended. Trampolines are fun, and once we are jumping, we begin to realize the need for springs. The springs help us make sense of these deeper realities that drive how we live every day. They are not God, Jesus, or the point. They are statements and beliefs about our faith that help give words to the depth that we are experiencing in our jumping; basically, they are doctrines of the Christian faith. These “springs” have emerged over time as people have discussed, studied, experienced, and reflected on their growing understanding of who God is.

For some, faith isn’t a trampoline; it’s a wall of bricks. Each doctrine is like an individual brick that stacks on top of others. If you pull one out, the whole wall wavers and starts to crumble. It appears strong and rigid, but if you rethink or discuss even one brick the whole wall is in danger… like saying if you do not believe the world was created in six 24 hour periods, you are denying that Jesus died on the cross. With a trampoline, there are so many springs, you could examine and discuss it, and keep on loving God, and live the way he intended.

A brick is fixed in size. It can’t flex or change in size, because if it does, it then will not fit into the wall. Unfortunately, the wall becomes the sum total of beliefs, and God becomes as big as the wall, but God is bigger than any wall, any worldview, any religion, and bigger than the Christian faith. In brickworld, people defend their doctrines, basically, talking about how right they are, which leads to how wrong others are. Very rarely are trampolines defended, we invite others to join us.

Another problem with brickworld is that a wall inevitably keeps people out. It often appears that if you don’t agree with all the bricks, you cannot join. Jesus invites everyone to jump, and saying yes doesn’t mean we have to have every spring figured out. I mean, if we knew everything, we’d be God, but we can jump and still have questions right there with us.

So how do we get these discussions about the springs started? Questions. Questions are essential to the Christian faith. To truly pursue the living God, we have to ask questions. These questions aren’t belligerent, arrogant or have no respect for our Maker, but naked honest, vulnerable, and raw questions that arise out of engaging God. Questions bring freedom. Freedom that we don’t have to be God and don’t have to pretend to have it all figured out. We can let God be God.

Who has questioned God? (Genesis 18 – Abraham) (Exodus 4 – Moses) (Psalm 13 – David) (Luke 1: 30-34 – Mary) (Mark 15: 34 – Jesus, SIDE NOTE: also Psalm 22:1, as a secret code to the readers of the Scriptures that the Savior had arrived.)

Example (John 3:16)

Why did God give His Son?
Why does God love the world? (1 John 4: 8)

We could further ask “How can God be love,” “Is every experience of love an experience of God,” “Is every experience of God an experience of love,” and go on and on and on. Truth always leads to more truth. Truth is insight into God and God has no boundaries or edges, so truth always has layers, depth, and texture. God is the mystery and the answers to our questions only will lead to more questions. The great thing about the Christian faith is that we do not have to know all the answers. Even the best descriptions of our doctrines sound like a small child playing Mozart with pots and pans. God’s mystery is the truth. Being a Christian isn’t about conquering or figuring out the truths; it’s about celebrating them. A trampoline only works if you stop investigating the springs, and jump into the air. Jumping on a trampoline is fun, and we love it. What do we do with things we love to do? We invite others to come with us. We invite others to come and live the way of Jesus and see what happens. You don’t have to know all of the answers to follow Him.

What’s the point of living the way of Jesus? (Psalm 37: 4)

God’s joy and our joy are not two separate things; they are the same. He takes great pleasure in us living as we were made to live. Of course, joy doesn’t rule out suffering, difficulty, or struggle. In fact, Jesus pretty much guarantees our lives to be difficult. But God’s joy transcends these struggles.

What did Paul say about this? (Philippians 4:7)
What did Jesus say about this? (Matthew 11: 28-30)

The way to pure joy and a peace the passes all understanding is to take on Jesus yoke, or to live the way Jesus taught us to.

Velvet Elvis - Introduction

2009-03-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

My name is Nathan, and I have started working with a local prison ministry. As I became more and more involved, I also began reading Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis. This book started to illuminate things about God and me that I had never realized. Soon after I finished the book, I began to share the lessons with the inmates. I am putting my lessons here for discussion and hopefully the advancement of our knowledge of God and how God wants to work through us.

Velvet Elvis starts with this description of a painting of Elvis. It’s not the young Elvis (slicked back hair in the black and white photos with an unplugged guitar), and it’s not the old Elvis (the big one in the shiny cape); it is of the pre-donut Elvis. It captures “the king” in all his glory. If, after the artist was done, he said that there was no more need to paint because he had painted the ultimate painting, we’d say he had lost his mind. We know this because instinctively understand art has to keep going, keep exploring, keep arranging, keep shaping and bringing in more perspectives.

Followers of Jesus have also understood our need to keep going and exploring what it means to live in harmony with God and each other. When Martin Luther launched his series of questions about the painting the church was presenting, he had realized the need for changes. Many people after him continued to rethink and repaint the faith. It’s called the reformation because we are still in the reforming process.

This book is Rob Bell’s attempt at repainting the Christian faith. It’s broken into 7 segments called Movements. Movement One is Jump.