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  We ignored the master fisherman and continued down the path with outdated and ineffective methods when we could be grabbing people by the net-full.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!!

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?

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?

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!"

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.

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.

A Passion for God

 I am part of a denomination with a rich heritage and wonderful Pastors have been born out of this denomination.  A.W. Tozer was one of those wonderful Pastors.  He was a Pastor in the Christian and Missionary Alliance for many years, authored many books, spoke at numerous college chapel services and led many people to the Person of Jesus Christ.

    I recently read a Biography of A.W. Tozer by Lyle Dorsett titled: A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A.W. Tozer.  This recent book on A.W.'s life has deeply impacted me and reminded me not only of who A.W. was, nor simply about my rich heritage in the C&MA but it also deeply impacted me about my own personal yeilding to the Holy Spirit.

  Last week and for several weeks prior I noticed a bit of a short fuse within myself.  I was getting easily angered and was being really grumpy with my wife and 1 year old son.  I'm normally not like this, so I was curous as to what was going on within myself.  It was in the midst of this whirlwind of questions I was reading this book on the life of A.W. Tozer. 

  Seeing Tozer's utter devotion to Christ and his whole-hearted desire to be completely yeiled to the Spirit of the living God convicted me.  I noticed I was doing the work of the ministry without the Holy Spirit's presence.  I was going it alone so to speak and was putting my head down to get the "work done" but I was not fully yielding to the Spirit of God. 

  I desire to be a man filled with the Holy Spirit, having His life feed me, empower me, teach me, illuminate mysteries to me and love me.  I didn't realize how utterly unfilled I was until I saw a man who was so very filled.  A.W. Tozer was not perfect, in fact he neglected his family and wife way too often, but he was a man that was yeilded to the Spirit of God!

  When I was in college I learned numerous things about the Holy Spirit, things I had never been taught before and these new learnings caused me to understand the importance of a yeilded life.  For some reason, the past few months I had forgotten those lessons.

  In the Christian walk, nothing is more important than yeilding ourselves to the power of the Spirit of God.  Christ has accomplished tons on the cross and sending us the Spirit was the best earthly accomplishment.  Having the Spirit of God free to reign in us is incalculable in its value, and huge in its effect on our lives and our worlds.

   The only way to live the Christian the way we were always meant to is by yeilding to the Spirit of God, giving Him the drivers seat in your life and letting Him take you where He wants you.

  I want to live a yeilded life, no more doing it on my own, no more getting grumpy and losing the joy of the Lord!

What did Christ Accomplish? (Pt. 3)

Last Friday was Good Friday, a day that is set aside to celebrate the death of Jesus Christ. It is called "good" because of His death.



A lot of people ask why is a dude's death something to celebrate and the answer is quite simple.

Christ died so we could live! His death was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. By his death He has also brought about our Justification and Sanctification!
We looked at the Atonement and at Justification. Christ, by His death atoned for our sins, Justified us before the Father and sacntifies us continually through the cross!
As in atonement, to understand what it is we must ask certain questions and seek the answers.

The First question was: "What does Justification mean?"

The second and final question we will look at concerning the cross of Jesus is: "What does Sanctification mean?"

  Again, to get to the heart of what all this is, we must answer questions in order to find the true treasure of what these things are! 

Define sanctification


Sanctification is the continuing work of God in the life of the believer making the believer actually holy. Which is both experiential and positional.



How are Justification and Sanctification related?

Justification is the act of being made right before the Lord. This is imputing Christ’s righteousness into the new believer making him/her holy and righteous before God. (Galatians 2:16, Romans 10:9-10). Justification must happen in order for Sanctification to be able to occur. Before we can live by the Spirit (Romans 8 and Galatians 5) we need to receive the Spirit and this receiving the Spirit comes at Justification where we are declared righteous before a Holy God. Sanctification is the continuous act of being made Holy (Hebrews 10:14). Where we the believer allow the Spirit to work in our lives, being more and more filled with the Holy Spirit. That sis not to say we did not receive the full Holy Spirit at justification, being more filled means we give over more of our lives to the Holy Spirit. Sanctification will only finish it’s work when we die and are glorified. Justification and Sanctification go hand in hand. While Justification is the beginning of Sanctification.

What significance does sanctification have to your lifestyle?

Giving the Spirit more control over your life and allowing Him full access to you life allows you to do as Christ said we must do if we are to follow Him and that is to take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). Being sanctified means also that we are becoming more like Christ. This means, we will care for that which Christ cares for, love those whom Christ loves and seek justice the way he does. We will become more and more like the House of the Lord that he has designed, as well as we will seek to live Holy lives has He is holy (1 Peter 1-2). The significance is that we will be strangers and aliens in this worl and they will want to know why. This then will lead us into glorifying Christ alone and allowing us access to the people of this world to share the hope we have in Christ (1 Peter 3:15). It means I will not seek out the desires of this World as Paul and Peter urge us, but will rather be seeking the things of God!

Why must holiness be a characteristic of God’s people?

1 Peter 2:11-12 says: “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” Holiness must be a characteristic of our lives so that we can bring glory to God. When we allow the Holy Spirit to make us Holy (1 Thessalonians 5:23), we will become closer to heaven, and the world will see this in us and want to know why. They will ask questions about this hope we have and we can be prepared to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15). This news is news for the whole world (1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:2). Also in 1 Peter 1, we are reminded of a call to holiness from Leviticus, where God says: “Be Holy as I am Holy”. It is God’s desire that we become more like him. This then would truly separate us from this world where we can be strangers and aliens.



What is  positional sanctification?

Positional Sanctification is the imputed holiness of God that we receive at Salvation. It is where we are no longer bound to sin (Romans 6; 1 Peter 2:24) and are free in Christ (Galatians 5:1). It means that before God, we are declared righteous, saved and justified. We are renewed and a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Hebrews 10:10 says: “… we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”



What is experiential sanctification?

This is the continuing work of sanctification. 1 Thes. 5:23 says: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God is sanctifying us through and through. Also, Hebrews 10 (10:10) talks of positional sanctification, but also of experiential sanctification Hebrews 10:14 says: “because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” We are “being made holy”. Holiness on earth is not a one-stop shop, we have to as Jesus Himself said: “deny ourselves and daily pick up our cross and follow Him.”(Luke 9:23) We also must daily put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6). These are all pieces of the experiential sanctification. Also, we are called to work out our faith with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) if it weren’t continual, why would we need to work it out? Also, in Romans 6:22, we see that this life we received from Christ leads to holiness…it is not a one-stop reception of all holiness.

 In what way is progression connected with experiential sanctification?

This is the continuing work of sanctification. 1 Thes. 5:23 says: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God is sanctifying us through and through. Also, Hebrews 10 (10:10) talks of positional sanctification, but also of experiential sanctification Hebrews 10:14 says: “because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” We are “being made holy”. Holiness on earth is not a one-stop shop, we have to as Jesus Himself said: “deny ourselves and daily pick up our cross and follow Him.”(Luke 9:23) We also must daily put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6). These are all pieces of the experiential sanctification. Also, we are called to work out our faith with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) if it weren’t continual, why would we need to work it out? Also, in Romans 6:22, we see that this life we received from Christ leads to holiness…it is not a one-stop reception of all holiness. Meaning that the very nature of experiential sanctification is indeed progressive, so that progression is connected to it thoroughly and completely in it’s very nature.



In what way is the believer “dead to sin and alive In God”?

Romans 6, is entirely about this question. Through the power of the cross, the Holy Spirit can now take charge of our lives if we believe and confess it (Romans 10:9-10) and become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). When Chris died on the cross, he nailed there with him our sins and he himself took our death on that tree. 1 Peter 2:24 is my favorite verse when it comes to the way in which we can be dead to sin, but alive in God. It says: “He Himself bore our sins on the tree, that we may die to sin and live to righteousness”. It is only through His death and resurrection that we can achieve this successfully!


What is meant by the phrase “the indwelling Christ?”

This comes from Romans 8:9-11 where the Spirit of Christ dwells within us and changes our very lives. We no longer live by the sinful nature, but we live by the Spirit of Christ and it is by this indwelling that “our body is dead because of sin, but our spirits are alive because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10), in this indwelling, we received a spirit of sonship (Romans 8:15). Christ moves into our hearts and lives and sin moves out. God is light and where the light is darkness cannot be. This indwelling exposes those things hidden in the dark and causes us to confess that which light shines upon, so that we can continually live in the light and the indwelling Christ can remain Lord of our lives.


What are scriptural evidences of a sanctified life?

Romans 6,8 Galatians 5, Hebrews 10, James



 How does sanctification relate to the Lordship of Christ?

1 Corinthians 3 asks a HUGE question as to who is your Lord. Essentially what are you building your life around? (Hebrews 10, 1 John)

What did Christ Accomplish? (Pt. 2)

Yesterday was Good Friday, a day that is set aside to celebrate the death of Jesus Christ. It is called "good" because of His death.



A lot of people ask why is a dude's death something to celebrate and the answer is quite simple.
Christ died so we could live! His death was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. By his death He has also brought about our Justification and Sanctification!

We looked at the Atonement yesterday and today we will look at Justification.  Christ, by His death atoned for our sins but he also Justified us before the Father!

As in atonement, to understand what it is we must ask certain questions and seek the answers.

The First question is: "What does Justification mean?"

Justification is simply being made into right standing with God, being made righteous and law-abiding. Some would say another simple definition is: “just as if I never sinned”. 1 John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. The law showed us just how sinful we are and how we could never meet a standard of being justified on our own the law was placed into motion to point us to Christ (Galatians 3:21-25), because we are all sinners and have fallen short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23). Thus, God sent Christ into the world to die, so that we may be justified by Faith in him, his death and resurrection! (Galatians 3:1-14)




What is the basis on which God justifies the sinner?

John 3:16 tells us that because of God’s love, he sent his son. It is upon us to accept that He died and rose for us, in order for us to be justified (Romans 10:9-10) and then it is by that faith (Galatians 3:22-25) that we receive the once, for all death of Christ which imputes His righteousness into us and makes us Justified before the sight of God.

Again in Galatians 2:16, we see the clear-cut basis in which God justifies the sinner: “know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”



Where in Scripture is Justification talked about?

Galatians 2:16 “know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”

Romans 10:9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

Galatians 3:23-25 “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ[a] that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”

Romans 4:5 “However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.”

These passages are some of the primary passages dealing with justification. Christ’s death was a once for all event, in which if a person puts their faith in his death and resurrection, they will receive justification and new life (regeneration). God’s wrath demands blood for sins, Christ offered his own and was our sacrifice so that we could be justified and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). He will justify wicked people (as we all are before coming to Christ—Romans 3) and bring them into right relationship with Himself through the blood of Christ, for this atones for our sin and imputes the righteousness of Christ into us. (Romans 3:21-24) . This imputation is an imputation of Christ’s Spirit, which when we believe through faith that He is Lord and He raised from the dead, we will receive. Romans 8:8-11 says: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”



What is the nature of the change brought about by justification?

When a person is justified, they become a new person. The old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is also known as regeneration. The person who is now justified will be now living in and by the Spirit (Romans 8, Galatians 2&3). The Spirit will guide and direct them. The faith they have will bring them justification and this justified person will begin to do works of faith through the power of the Spirit. James says: “…Faith without works is dead”. This doesn’t mean that we receive justification through works, so we can boast about our greatness (Ephesians 2:8-9), but it means that we will be so transformed we won’t be able to help ourselves from lovingly following Christ’s commands. They now stand righteous before Christ, they now can die to sin and live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).



Justification will then lead to a discussion about Regeneration...

When a person is justified, they become a new person. The old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is also known as regeneration. Both of these events: justification and regeneration happen instantly and simultaneously. They are not separate, but part of the same event of salvation. 1 Peter 3:18 says that Christ died for sin, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous. Regeneration happens, when we believe by faith that Christ died and rose again, because it is at this time the Spirit indwells us (Romans 8, Galatians 2&3). We know that this is the moment of regeneration as well as justification, for Jesus Himself says in John 3:3-6 that to be Born of the Spirit is to be born again.



Regeneration Defined

Regeneration is best defined by Scripture. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The old us, the sinful us was crucified with Christ, and we have been re-born! 1 Peter 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”



Where does Scripture talk about Regeneration?

John 1:12-13 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”

1 Peter 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

1 John 2:29 “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.”

Who performs the work of regeneration?

The Spirit performs regeneration. John 3 is very specific on this point, Spirit gives birth to Spirit. We can only be Born or God through the Spirit of Christ (John 1:12-13).

What attitudes must be present in the individual before regeneration can take place?

There must be an attitude of remorse for your sins, a realization that you are sinful and that you deserve death. The your attitude should shift to realizing that only through Christ can one be saved. It is the gift of God, you must realize that you yourself can not achieve it, or attain it outside of Christ.
What is the nature of the change brought about by regeneration?

Romans 8:5-10 says: “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind[f] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” So, we are now controlled by the Spirit of God, rather than our sinfulness. 1 John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Meaning that this change purifies us from all unrighteousness. 1 Peter 2:24 says: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” Meaning that we no longer have to live for our sinful nature but can now live for righteousness! Being made new allows us to live new lives, empowered by the Spirit of God, our Helper (John 12).

What did Christ Accomplish? (Pt. 1)

Today is Good Friday, a day that is set aside to celebrate the death of Jesus Christ. It is called "good" because of His death.




Some ask: "Why would you celebrate a day whe someone dies? Isn't that mean? Why does that make you want to celebrate?"



The answer is simple: Christ died so we could live! His death was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. By his death He has also brought about our Justification and Sanctification!
Well, that answer is simple, but let's unpack atonement. (In the following two posts in this series we will unpack Justification and Sanctification)
To unpack Atonement (as well as Justification and Sanctification) you have to start by asking questions and seeking the answers to those questions. 

First is: "What's atonement mean?"
Atonement is the act of forgiving a deserved punishment. Because we all have sinned, we deserve death (Romans 3:23; 6:23), However, our sins were atoned for, not by human effort, but by the wounds of Christ (1 Peter 2:24). The requirement for said atonement was blood of a pure sacrificial lamb or bull (Lev. 2) Which Christ became for us and he spilt his blood on our behalf. His righteousness, covered our unrighteousness, so we may be brought before God blameless and pure. (1 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21)


Where did the plan of atonement originate?
The plan of atonement originated directly after the fall. In Genesis 3:15, God says to Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This is known as the first mention of the Gospel. God is talking about how Christ will come and be bruised, but will do far more damage to Satan than Satan will do to Him. God already had this sacrifice in mind in order to reduce Satan to nothing.



Why would God want to provide atonement for us?
We see the main attribute of God that pushed Him to provide the atonement in John 3:16 being Love. It says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son…” His reason for giving his son was His love. 1 John 4:8-10 also says this very thing: that is was God’s love that motivated him to sacrifice Christ on our behalf. In Leviticus 2, we see that because of God’s wrath and hatred towards sin, the sin must receive atonement. He gave the people of Israel a means of this atonement through the sacrifice of animals and using their blood to atone their sins. God’s wrath demanded payment for the sins committed, this then was the second impetus, which moved God to provide atonement. His wrath towards sin could be propitiated; this is why Christ is also called our propitiation. (1 John 2:2 ESV)


Why do we even need atonement?
Man is all together sinful. When Adam ate of the tree, he signed the death warrant of all humanity, damning us to a sinful nature from birth. (Gen. 3). Romans 3:23 states: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Psalm 14 and 53 also show the utter depravity of man, as cited from Romans 3. This sinful nature cuts us off from a perfect God, who is light and in him is no darkness, which is sin. (1 John 1:5-10). This cutting off created a void between us and God that needed to be filled, or bridged so we could again meet with our Lord. In all reality, in His perfection he could’ve walked away without caring, but in Lev. 2, he sets up a sacrificial system and a law system in which an can learn deeper how depraved they are, yet still have the atonement to bring them back to the Lord. To make an eternal atonement, Christ had to die. The perfect lamb, without blemish or spot had to suffer in order for us to live (Isaiah 53).
How could God justly put man’s sins upon an innocent victim?
This question almost assumes that Christ was forced into being the ultimate sacrifice, while in fact he was a willing vessel. Justly, for the sins to be forgiven through Christ death he had to have volunteered for this position. Had he not been willing, the atonement would never have happened. In Philippians 2:5-10, we see Christ’s humility in stepping down to this task and role. We also see in the Garden of Gethsemane, in Matthew 23, Christ wrestles with His calling, but undoubtedly bends to the will of the Father. Christ was willing to be the suffering servant that Isaiah 53 talked about. He was led before the shears and was silent, he did not speak out about them being wrong. The innocence of Christ was also key. Had he been blemished by sin, the atonement would have been meaningless, for a tainted sacrifice will not appease the wrath of God.


What qualified Christ for being such an offering?
Christ being both God and man as well as sinless qualified him as this offering. He is eternal, so His death would ring throughout eternity and his resurrected hands would be a constant reminder to God the Father of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. He was also Human, so he dealt with each and every temptation that we did, yet did not sin (Hebrews 4:15). He overcame by living life through the power of the Spirit (Matthew 3-4), which is also our example as how we should now live. He humbled Himself and was willing to be the offering which would appease the wrath of God as well as atone for our sins. (1 John 1:5-10; John 3:16, 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 2:24)


Could anyone other than Christ have made an acceptable offering?
No



How do we know that Jesus was an offering that was acceptable to God?


Scripture is full of assurance that this offering was acceptable. First is the very fact that God in Matthew 27:46-47 turned his back on Christ, symbolizing Christ’s receiving of the sins of the entire world. It was such a wretched sight that God the Father had to separate Himself from seeing it! Also, after the death of Christ, in Matthew 27, we see the curtain which blocked the view of the Holy of Holies from view torn in two. This represented now that all men due to the atoning sacrifice of Christ have full access to God. Christ during his life in John 14:6 also said: “I am the way, the truth and the life no one comes to the Father accept through me”. This would give the reader the idea that Christ was and is enough. Also, we see throughout the epistles constant reassurance that Christ’s atoning death was sufficient to cover over all the sins of the world. 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,” His righteous sacrifice was sufficient! 1 John 2:2 says: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”



Is there any limitation concerning who may benefit from the atonement of Christ?
The answer to that truly lies in a persons view of Calvinism. The Scriptures say that it was for all the world 1 John 2:2; 1 Peter 3:18. However, there is a view that God chooses only certain people to receive this said blessing of atonement. I believe that it is for all the world as the Scriptures clearly state, yet people still choose wickedness over righteousness. We can see this perfectly within the picture of the two thieves crucified with Christ. The atonement as attainable for both, but only one chose to accept it. The other chose to spit on it. Christ’s atonement was once for all.


Can the atonement in any way be effective in human lives where the gospel is unknown?
Romans 1:18-20 says: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” The atonement can and is effective throughout the world, whether or not they’ve heard the message. However, to make things more clear to the world we live in, we as the followers of Christ are called to go and make disciples.


Christ is our atoning sacrifice...that is some encouraging stuff!  No wonder we celebrate his Death!  Tomorrow, we will unpack Justification and on Sunday we will unpack Sanctification...as well as the Ressurection!

Laughing at Jesus

I'm sure you remember what it's like to be laughed at, I know I do. It's the moment you say something or do something and someone thinks it would be a great time to laugh at you for your words, or your actions. Have you ever thought that God was laughed at? When someone laughed at you, what was your response? What do you think God's response would be?



These and many more questions piled into my brain as I was reading through Luke's Gospel. Here, we see Jesus getting laughed at and ridiculed...before the cross! Here's the story from Luke 8:49-56

"While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, "Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher anymore." But Jesus on hearing this answered him, "Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well." And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, "Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand he called, saying, "Child, arise." And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

This struck me because I never thought anyone ever laughed at Jesus. I remember when Sarah laughed at God when He told her she was going to bare a son in her old age, but I never thought someone laughed at Jesus.

They laughed because Jesus said: "...she is not dead but sleeping". To them, they clearly saw that the girl was dead and not merely sleeping. Yet Jesus saw a girl who simply needed wakened. They laughed because they doubted anything could be done at this point. If you remember, the people from the house came out when she had died that Jesus was no longer needed because she was dead. Don't have him even bother now, this situation is hopeless.



When I first read that they had "laughed" at Jesus I was pretty angry with them. How could you laugh at Jesus? I was thinking they must have real balls to make fun of God.



Then I asked myself: "Has God ever said something to me and I laughed at Him?"



When God tells me something I think is impossible, or just plain stupid (in my mind) do I not also laugh at God? Do I not also ridicule His thoughts and words to me, thinking that what He has just said to me is absurd?


I must confess, I have indeed laughed at God. I have heard His words to me and I laughed at how silly it sounded, or how impossible it seemed. That's why Sarah laughed. She was WELL passed birthing years, yet God said you will give birth. She was WAY passed breast feeding days, yet God said she would wean her child. The only outward expressions she could show was her doubt, which came about by her laughter.

When I think of crazy things God said in the Bible that I would've laughed at, I always come to the books of Joshua and Ezekiel. God told Joshua and Ezekiel to do some crazy, weird and wacky things. Ezekiel had to lay siege to his clay model of Jerusalem. Joshua had to march around a city seven times, and then tell the people to shout loudly (all in an effort to destroy a whole city). Ezekiel also was asked to cook a meal in front of people using his own poop! I would've laughed really hard at that (probably because I work with Middle Schoolers and "poop" is one of the funniest words in their vocabulary)!



God may call us to crazy things that seem absolutely impossible to us. Those things may make us laugh, but God can accomplish them without flinching!


Look at Jesus reaction to the laughter. "But taking her by the hand he called, saying, "Child, arise." And her spirit returned, and she got up at once."
Jesus reaction was to ignore the laughter and do what he said was able to be done. He brought her back to life, or in Jesus own words: woke her up. He didn't scorn the people for laughing, nor did he defend himself; Jesus simply did His miraculous work.
God did the very same thing with Sarah in Genesis. She laughed at God, but God didn't reprimand her insolence, nor did he defend Himself...he simply did what He said would be done.
My take away from this obscure passage is that even when God calls me to something that is laughable to me...He will do as He says. His word is true and His word will come about in my life!