August 24th, 2010
Some of you may have seen the postcard that we sent out to those in the Milwaukee area. We also just had the same poster put up in Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa. The title or catch line is “Would Jesus Wear Jeans to Church?” The concept is not so much about the “forms” of worship, but instead that the inside is more important than the outside. It’s certainly not an attempt to say that Jesus was cool and our church is too. Actually it may be quite the opposite. It’s stating that Jesus broke a lot of the religious stereotypes, and at times offended people with the truth. Our hope and prayer in using this question is to get people to think about what it really means to be a follower of Christ, to be saved by Him, and transformed by Him. For some it’s coming to a point of understanding that their past or outward appearance doesn’t exclude them from a relationship with God because of the grace of Christ. For others, it may wake them up to understand that just because they look “good” to the world that they are far from what Jesus called his “disciples.” Below is what the rest of the postcard and poster says.
Outward appearances often don’t reflect what’s going on in someone’s heart and life. This is an age old problem, even as Jesus walked the earth. Many dressed the religious part but were rotten on the inside. Jesus called these people “hypocrites” (Matthew 23:27-28). Maybe you think Christianity and church are scams because you’ve experienced this hypocrisy. I apologize on behalf of Christians. In addition, maybe you feel as if your appearance or past excludes you from God’s love.
But please, don’t give up on God just yet! I want to invite you to check out epikos church and hear what Jesus taught, lived for, and died for. I invite you to be part of a church where we recognize that all of us are dependent on the grace and hope offered through Jesus Christ.
So come as you are, No need to dress up or hide your tattoos…
If you want a copy of the postcard please email us with your address and we’ll mail one out to you.
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May 14th, 2010
Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity provides the logical conclusion of a post-modern (read post-truth) Christianity. With the popularity and appeal of this approach to God and His Word within this generation, it is vital as a church body that we understand the danger of such teachings and learn how best to dialogue with others about them. In the spirit of 1 Timothy 4:16 (“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”), I plead with this church to take seriously the importance of trusting in Scripture, God’s revealed Word, as our sole guide to know God as He truly and unchangeably is and forever will be. Only in this knowledge can we overcome our own sinfulness and grow into a deeper love of Christ and one another. If we abandon a trust in the inerrant truth of Scripture, we will relapse into a reliance on our own wisdom – a particularly scary thought considering our wisdom is foolishness to God (1 Corinthians 3:18).
I hope to show by way of critiquing McLaren’s view of Scripture that accepting such a view (apart from the orthodox view in accordance with 2 Timothy 3:16 that the actual words of Bible are God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness) will lead to not only the disintegration of Christ’s beloved bride (His church), but also the tragic rejection of God in favor of self-centered idolatry. To do this, I will present a brief overview of McLaren’s position and idealism, followed by an attempt to apply these views to a Scripture passage. In doing this, it will be clear that while McLaren’s views sound appealing at first, upon a closer inspection they are incoherent, contradictory, and practically impossible to use with any consistency.
Consider this quote from his book:
“I am saying that human beings can’t do better than their very best at any given moment to communicate about God as they understand God, and that Scripture faithfully reveals the evolution of our ancestors’ best attempts to communicate their successive best understandings of God.” – p. 103
McLaren states that for too long we have used the Bible as a legal document from which to derive moral codes and it is time we change the way we look at Scripture. He argues that Scripture does not tell the story of God simply, but is itself a part of God’s story. In other words, the Scriptures that we have to study today are not directly from God in any way other than being good-hearted, though flawed, human descriptions of God’s interaction with His created world. From this, he argues that the path to the knowledge of God does not come from studying a rigid collection of historical writings (the Bible) in a scholarly fashion, but instead comes from dialoging with one another regarding these writings. He writes, “No, revelation occurs not in the words and statements of individuals, but in our conversation among individuals and God, we might say. It doesn’t simply occur in the black symbols on white paper, it also occurs in the white space between letters and words and sentences – in the unspoken interactions, tensions, and resolutions between voices in the text.” (pp. 89-90) In other words, truth cannot be discovered from the words of the Bible, for all the authors of the Bible were simply men doing their best to describe God. So, we must join in on the conversation, seeking to discover God’s attributes by interpreting our own life experiences alongside the imperfect explanations offered by Biblical authors of their life experiences.
McLaren champions this view of Scripture as a bringer of community and an eliminator of longstanding conflict regarding disputed doctrines in Scripture. He cites prior Christian support for slavery and the Crusades as evidence that reading Scriptural statements as unquestionably true leads to grievous mistakes in the church, for whoever wields the most power in the church at any given moment will determine the correct interpretation and application of Scripture’s teachings. At first glance, this argument may seem appealing – after all, Christians have disagreed with one another for thousands of years on any number of Scriptural teachings, bringing division and disunity, not to mention very real violence. Is not, then, a communal and cooperative approach to seeking God a better and more harmonious option for the church?
To answer this question, we must think logically of how this view would be applied in a communal setting. Let us say that a group of believers holding this position gather to read and discuss 2 Peter. In no time, they would run into this passage from chapter one of Peter’s letter (verses 16-21):
16We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Immediately the problem of McLaren’s approach comes to light. What does this group of believers do with Peter’s words? Are Peter’s statements true or simply a “best attempt” to reveal truth? If, as McLaren wishes us all to do, this group were to put themselves on equal ground with Peter, could their own views hold more authority than Peter’s? Did Christ really receive honor and glory from the Father or was this simply Peter’s interpretation? Were Peter’s views of the prophets his best guess as to their inspiration, or were they actually provided by the Holy Spirit?
If the group simply agrees to disagree on their interpretation of this passage, or any other passage for that matter, in what sense could they agree that there even is a God? We may as well throw the Bible out completely and attempt to discover who God is through our own emotional and natural world. If we were to say that everyone’s view is just a different aspect of God, and all views point to the same God, then what of views that directly contradict one another? Can God be both good and evil? Deeply caring and apathetic? As you can see, McLaren’s approach does not eliminate conflict, but instead brings a whole new set of conflicts! Such conflicts as these that do not have a basis in arguing from truth external to our minds (i.e. Scripture) will lead to an individualistic religion of wishful thinking, the creation of countless false Gods, and the elimination of the solid ground the church community needs to live in harmony of purpose with one another.
It is clear that in this passage, Peter had no intention of entering into the kind of discussion that McLaren proposes. Peter clearly states and explains his positions are irrefutable truth. He had no intentions to open up the discussion, but instead was teaching from a place of authority and knowledge. No one could read his words and think otherwise. If, as McLaren proposes, Peter was simply stating his own interpretations of his experiences, in what sense could we respect words that seem to carry so much authority? If McLaren’s view of Peter is correct, he and every other Biblical author is beyond egomaniacal, as they would be stating truths of God without proper assurance of their legitimacy. God forbid we listen to someone who speaks so boldly without knowing their statements are true! If this were true, these men would be deceivers and liars, not men of faith and a reliance on God’s revelation.
So, if holding that the truth statements of Scripture are absolute truths leads to conflict, and also holding that they are not strictly true leads to conflict, what is the solution? How can we as a church move toward a place of respect both for God and for one another in approaching His Word?
Before I answer this question, it is important to first point out how McLaren’s portrayal of Christian history has perverted the orthodox approach to Scripture into something it has never been. True, those wielding power within the Christian world have misused Scripture for their own wicked schemes throughout history, but never have such schemes been undertaken due to a faithful and consistent reading of God’s Word. Slavery, for example, was opposed most forcefully from within the church by those who argued from Scripture the unethical nature of that institution. McLaren assumes that Scripture is contradictory, and in doing so wrongfully assumes that all people who have used Scripture to justify their sinful activities were reading Scripture faithfully, carefully, and fearfully.
Thus, if we approach Scripture with a real desire for it to teach us, and for us not to read what we desire into its teachings, a naturally congenial and vibrant world of discussion and mutual respect can thrive in the church even if there is disagreement. We cannot expect that everyone will be uniform in every aspect of their theology, but this does not mean that we discard the discussion of Scripture completely – it simply means that we argue gently and respectfully while also being open to the arguments of our brothers and sisters in Christ. As Proverbs 9:8 states, “Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you.” So, while still being confident in the views we hold (Romans 14:5), let us strive to be wise and open to the possibility that we need correction, for this will bring not only sound doctrine and teaching, but love for one another.
It is important to know why we hold what we do from Scripture, for this is the only way to build confidence in our beliefs. Without the humble study of Scripture, the best we can do is simply hope that we have been taught correctly. In all things, we should take the advice of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (“Test everything. Hold on to the good.”). By doing this in our conversations within the church, we will not only gain confidence in our knowledge of God’s Word, but also we will help others to grow in their knowledge and faith due to the necessity of carefully explaining Christian belief from Scripture. Only in doing this will we be able to guard against the acceptance of false gospels (as the Galatians fell in to according to Galatians 1:6-9), and come to trust in the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who voluntarily took the penalty of our sins upon Himself as a sacrifice once for all on the cross so we may be free to approach God with confidence, a sincere heart, and full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:18-25). That, my friends, cannot be left up to debate.
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May 11th, 2010
I am currently reading “The Cruelty of Heresy: An affirmation of Christian Orthodoxy” by C. FitzSimons Allison, this book is phenomenal and practical. Heresy truly steals life from God’s sheep, while Orthodoxy provides God’s sheep and understanding of the life He freely gives.
Below is a portion of a sermon from Melito Bishop of Sardis (died in 190 a.d.). He is responding to the heresies known as Docetism and Ebionism. Both heresies denied that Jesus was God in flesh (the Incarnation), and subsequent heretical beliefs/practices followed. Read Melito’s words and be blessed, for the are AWESOME!
(The rest of the Blog are Melito’s words)
The mystery of the Lord is both new and old, old inasfar as it is prefiguration, new inasfar as it it grace. But if you gaze steadily upon this prefiguration, you will see the reality by way of its fulfillment.
So if you want to see the mystery of the Lord, gaze upon Abel who was similarly murdered, Isaac who was similarly bound, Joseph who was similarly sold for slavery, Moses who was similarly exposed, David who was similarly persecuted, the prophets who similarly suffered on account of the Christ. Gaze also upon the sheep sacrificed in the land of Egypt and the one who smote Egypt and saved Israel by means of blood…
He arrived on earth from the heavens for the sake of the one who suffered. He clothed himself in the sufferer by means of a virgin’s womb and came forth as a human being. He took to himself the sufferings of the sufferer by means of a body capable of suffering, and he destroyed the sufferings of the flesh. By a Spirit incapable of death he killed of death, the homicide…
The Lord, when he had put on the human being and suffered for the sake of him who suffered and was bound for the sake of him who was imprisoned and was judged for the sake of the condemned and was buried for the sake of the bound, rose from the dead and cried aloud, “Who will enter into judgment against me? Let him stand up and face me. I have set the condemned free. I have given the dead life. I have raised up the one who was entombed. Who will speak against me? I,” he says, “the Christ, I have the strong man and carried off humanity into the height of the heavens-I,” he says, “the Christ.”
This is he who made the heavens and the earth, and formed humanity in the beginning, who is announced by the Law and the Prophets, who was enfleshed in a Virgin, who was hanged on the Tree, who was buried in the earth, who was raised from the dead and went up into the heights of heaven, who is sitting on the right hand of the Father, who has the authority to judge and save all things, through whom the father made the things which exist, from the beginning to all the ages. This one is “the Alpha and the Omega,” this one is “the beginning and the end” the beginning which cannot be explained and the end which cannot be grasped. This one is the Christ. This one is the King. This one is Jesus. This one is the Leader. This one is the Lord. This one is he who has risen from the dead. This one is he who sites on the right hand of the Father. He bears the Father and is borne by the Father. “To him be the glory and the power to the end of the ages. Amen.”
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April 30th, 2010
The 1st and 3rd Tuesday of June, July, and August at 7pm will be a time for you to grow in faith and knowledge. These mid sized groups are designed to equip and strengthen you through the teaching of specific topics. There is no need to sign up, just show up ready to learn. Come to one or come to all. Whether you are new to Christianity or been in church for years you will surely learn something new.
June 1st: Bibliology & Hermeneutics: Reliability of the Bible and how to Study it on Your Own
June 15th: Comparative Religions: Identifying Differences of Christianity and Other Religions
July 6th: Pneumatology: The Role of the Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts
July 20th: Angelology and Spiritual Warfare: Spiritual Beings and their Place in this World
Aug 3rd: Eschatology: Views of the End Times
Aug 17th: Evangelism: The Proclamation of the Gospel
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April 19th, 2010
I should most likely be ashamed to admit that I own “Big Idea’s Jonah—A Veggie Tales Movie.” I saw it on sale for $5 and I took the bait. Jonah is a story we’ve heard since we were little kids. We may have heard something similar to “Jonah ran from God, a fish/whale ate him, and three days later spit him out.” Many of us have become so familiar with this story that we may have missed numerous points, and have even forgotten that Jonah is a historical book that expresses events that actually took place. Right now I would really appreciate it if you took 10-15 minutes to reacquaint yourself with this book. So please stop reading this blog and read the book of Jonah……….
In the last three weeks I’ve listened to two sermons on the book of Jonah. One sermon was about how Jonah represents the church, and how the church is constantly running away from God. The preacher went on to talk about how Tar shish (the city Jonah was fleeing to) represented the sins that the church loves while running from God. The other sermon the preacher stated that Jonah represents every person who has ever been born. The preacher stated that everyone has some knowledge of God, but runs away from Him because they would rather be in captivity and bondage to the things of this world (so in this sermon Tar shish represented “the world”). Both of these sermons reflected biblical truths. Since man is born dead in trespasses and sins, and even post-salvation man struggles and wars with these sins, the situations expressed in these sermons are common.
So how should we as Bible believing Christians view these sermons? Should we reflect on the preacher’s interpretations of Jonah and thank God that His word has so much “flexibility?” I believe that we should not accept these subjective interpretations, because they reject the clear facts given in the book of Jonah. I am not saying we write off the truths conveyed through the sermons, but we need to reject the style of interpretation presented in the sermons.
The next logical question could be, “Why should we reject this style of interpretation?” Maybe some of you know… Pastor Danny constantly pushes us to properly interpret the passage of Scripture we are reading (technical word: exegesis). So what this means, is that when we come to the book of Jonah our job as Bible believing Christians is to ask, who wrote this book, what style of book are we reading (history, doctrinal, poetic, etc), and how do we apply the truths revealed to our lives. In the case of the preachers above, they ignored the meaning of the text and decided to allegorize the text, so that the text could mean whatever they wanted the Bible to mean. Whoever the author of the book of Jonah was, he had no intention on his text ever being used in such a manner. We should never treat the Bible in such a way. If we decide to allegorize a text we are no longer depending on the Holy Spirit’s truths given through the text. As Christians we should find a certain amount of joy sitting under the truths given by the Holy Spirit, and should reject the teaching of those who shove their own meaning into the Bible through allegorical interpretation.
Let’s take a second to look at the book of Jonah (if you didn’t read Jonah earlier please take some time to read it now because I am going to assume you have). Who wrote it? We actually do not know. The book is written about Jonah, but we are not given the name of the author of the book. Since the book is about Jonah, who is Jonah? Well, we can know without a doubt that he is a historical person. We know without a doubt because in 2Kings Jonah is referred to as a prophet, in verse one of the book of Jonah he is mentioned as having a father, and in Matthew 12:39-41 Jesus spoke of Jonah as a literal person in history. If someone tells you that Jonah was not a real person, remember, their opinion is different than the God of the universe who came in human flesh, died, and rose from the dead…I don’t know about you, but I am going to agree with Jesus. What is the purpose of the book? The purpose is to give the readers an account of what took place in the life of Jonah, while showing how God is merciful when He deals with His creation (whether it’s God’s mercy to Nineveh or Jonah). Yet, since we are seeing how God interacted with His creation, we can determine a few themes from this historical account.
Theme 1: God shows mercy towards those who deserve His just wrath, even if the messenger doesn’t agree. Right away in the beginning of the book we see Jonah running from God. Jonah is running, because he doesn’t want to prophesy to the Ninevites. As we read, we can see that the Ninevites were a wicked people whom according to the Law deserved to be judged. Jonah is angry when God informs him that He wants to offer Nineveh a chance to repent. God pushes His agenda to proclaim repentance despite Jonah’s distaste for the task. God even uses a big fish (or whale…point is Jonah was in the belly of something HUGE and he was under the sea) to accomplish His goal.
Theme 2: God not only rules over and has the right to do whatever He pleases with His creation, but God cares about His creation. God reveals to a sulking Jonah (the last four verses of the book) that He gave Nineveh the chance to repent, because He cares about them. God could have sent Jonah to proclaim judgment and then wiped out the Ninevites, and that would have been fair. Yet, since God is slow to anger and abounding in mercy, He allowed the Ninevites a chance to repent. God’s offer of peace prior to judgment is a common theme in the Old and New Testaments.
The two themes listed above are not only clearly taught in the book of Jonah, but are consistent with the entire Biblical narrative. Paul says in Romans 5 “8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We can know that as Christians that prior to salvation, we too were under the wrath of God. It was only His love towards us that stayed His hand of judgment.
After listening to the two preachers come up with these “fancy” interpretations, and “cool” sermon illustrations, I guess I was supposed to be impressed…but the only thing that should “impress” us is God’s love for us revealed through the crushing of His Son. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ reveals that God wants to be known savingly, and according to 1John 4:10 the crucifixion reveals God’s love for us. Isaiah 53 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
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April 19th, 2010
This past week pastor Danny was interviewed by Third Coast Digest, a publication in Milwaukee, and here is the article about it: http://bit.ly/arEqWO
As you read through the book of Acts, you see the Holy Spirit empower believers for the purpose of building up Christ’s body the Church. Also in the book of Acts you see the Apostles preaching and teaching not only in synagogues and churches, but also in public squares.
After reading this article, take some time to read Acts 17. We should thank God that our Christian life is not meant to be contained to church buildings, but is to be expressed wherever we are able to. Thank you pastor Danny for your faithfulness to our Savior.
Again here is the link to the article: http://bit.ly/arEqWO
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March 23rd, 2010
As we are studying the book of Nehemiah, there are a couple places where he prays on behalf of the Israelite Community. As part of the sermon this last week the Worship Arts team put together a Community Prayer of Confession which is posted below. It is a combination of Scripture and heartfelt confession and repentance.
O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, You keep Your covenant of love with those who love You and obey Your commands. (Neh 1) Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic… The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. (Ps 29) Your love reaches to the heavens and Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the great deep. How precious is Your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. (Ps 36) Save us, O God, by Your name; vindicate us by Your might. Hear our prayers, O God; listen to the words of our mouths. (Ps 54:1-2)
· We’re selfish—we follow our instincts to satisfy ourselves, when You’ve asked us to regard the needs of others above our own.
· We’re gluttonous (food, lifestyles, pornography, entertainment, clothes). We confess wanting to take everything in excess; we indulge in our wants and overlook our needs and those of others.
· We are moved by trendy giving instead of giving continuously and out of a giving heart.
· We worry about the forms of worship instead of the true heart of worship. We are more concerned with what the church can do for us instead of what we can do for the church.
· In a society of very little persecution, we’re still afraid to defend our faith and the glory of Your name. We’re afraid that if we speak up, we’ll hurt our reputation.
· We fail to respect our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit. We’re sexually impure: masturbation, pornography, sex outside of marriage, lustful thoughts. We allow mental contamination by forsaking the word of truth that You’ve given us and instead chasing the diluted teachings of the philosophers of this age.
· We’re complacent. When You call us to fast, we come up with physical limitations. When You call us to pray, we facebook and clean the house and watch TV.
· We live in regret instead of grace.
· We hold grudges instead of forgiveness. When we do forgive, it hinges on our own conditions.
· We disrespect those leaders that You’ve put over us—leaders in government, the church, and our employers.
· We get drunk.
· We gossip and alienate people instead of acting as a unified body of Christ. We include only those we like and only those we comfortably “connect with” and forget what true fellowship is. We no longer view church as the body of Christ and instead view it as a social outlet.
· “…if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that You, God, find our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” –c.s. lewis
God, in spite of all this and because of all this, we recognize Your grace and You abounding love that forgives us.
Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out our transgressions. Was away all our iniquity and cleanse us from our sins. For we know our transgressions, and our sin is always before us. Against You, You only, have we sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are proved right when you speak and justified when You judge. Surely we were sinful at birth. You desire truth in our inner parts; You teach us wisdom in the inmost places. Wash us, and we will be whiter than snow. Let us hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed and rejoice. Hide Your face from our sins and blot our all our iniquities. Create in us a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within us. Do not cast us from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of Your salvation and grant us a willing spirit to sustain us. (Ps 51)
O Lord, we pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servants and who delight in revering Your name. (Neh 1:11)
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March 5th, 2010
Psalm 50:15 “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me”
___________________________
It seems like this is one of those times in life where tragedy pops up all over the place. A good friend of mine’s Dad just passed away; I recently went to a benefit for another friend of mine’s Dad who had a bicycle accident and is now a quadriplegic. Everything from marital issues to health problems; they seem to be everywhere.
In the face of pain and fear we become increasingly aware of the urgency of life. We begin to realize—with great conviction—that the woes of day to day living are empty! Not even worth our time. Why on earth would we bother being upset about a parking ticket if our family is in the middle of a crisis?
It’s sometimes difficult to understand this revelation when you’re in the middle of it. Usually you’re only concerned with what God has put right in front of you—and rightfully so. I think that’s my point. When we have nothing to be distraught over, and we have no reason NOT to trust in God, we constantly occupy our minds with “methods.” How do I make God a part of my daily life? What Scripture can I read to encourage me with this or that? But when we are faced with tragedy we become acutely aware of the strength of God. There’s no longer any room for us to just focus on ourselves. Our deepest desires go from simply being happy and healthy to finding peace and comfort in order to get through the mess we’re in! The methods get thrown out the window. As hard as it may be to understand, this is a huge gift! For example, the lives of our loved ones don’t become urgent to us when they are nearing an end. They always are! But it’s through death that we begin to understand that urgency.
But the ability to identify what is truly urgent also has a way of revealing our fear, anger, and confusion—among other things. While this is true, it’s often the terrors of life that bring out the absolute best in people. In times of distress we often feel most loved because people tend to go out of their way to make sure that’s the case. I believe that is because we were made in the image of God, and this type of love is a great passion of His.
God is a God of restoration. The entire Bible is the story of God bringing his people back to Himself. Moses brings the Israelites from slavery to the Promised Land; the prodigal comes back home; Jesus defeats death and rises again!
We will see our loved ones again, we will be made perfect, and we will personally have a part in God’s plans to redeem the world. All by the Grace of God! The need for faith is urgent. It is literally all that God asks of us! Our faith is our Hope, and Jesus is our promise. We serve a good God.
When there is absolutely nothing to do but trust in God, trust in God. Hold on tight to Him, and he will do what he does best!
Revelation 21:5- “And he who sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold I make all things new.’”
1 Corinthians 2:9- “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
Posted in Encouragement | 2 Comments »
February 28th, 2010
As a church we have been studying the book of Ezra since September. Now that we have finished the last chapter and will begin Nehemiah this is our “mid-term” exam. We took it during the Feb 28th worship service. Hope that this is not only fun, but also encouragement to some of the historical context that you’ve learned in studying this book.
1. The book of Ezra begins at what time period:
A) 1555 B
C B)536 BC
C) 70
D) Unknown
2. During this time the Jewish people were in Captivity in:
A) Gaza
B) Egypt
C) Israel
D) Babylon
3. The name of the King that allowed them to return to Jerusalem was:
A) Cyrus
B) Nebuchadnezzar
C) David
D) Saul
4. Archeological Evidence found that corroborated this Biblical account:
A) Rosetta Stone
B) Cyrus Cylinder
C) Dead Sea Scrolls
D) Holy Grail
5. The main mission of the Jewish exiles to return was to:
A) Rebuild Temple
B) Rebuild Jerusalem
C) Fight the Romans
D) Find Jesus
6. When the exiles faced opposition they
A) Trusted God
B) Were Fearful Stopped Mission
C) Forged Ahead
D) A, B, C
7. When the Mission was halted, these two encouraged them:
A) Moses/Aaron
B) Haggai/Zechariah
C) Peter/John
D) Oprah/Dr. Phil
8. Ezra was a:
A) Priest
B) Teacher
C) Scribe
D) A,B, & C
E) None of those
9. What was upsetting to Ezra:
A) Intermarriage
B) Poor living Conditions
C) Politics
D) All
10. Ezra called people to seek God by:
A) Prayer/Fasting
B) Ouija Board
C) Attend Church
D) Serve the Poor
Extra Credit:
11. About how many years were the Jews in Captivity?
A)5 years
B) 400 years
C) 70 years
D) 40 years
12. The main leader who led the first group of exiles back to Jerusalem was:
A) Darius
B) Zerubbabel
C) Xerxes
D) Isaac
13. In studying Ezra we can learn about.
A) Worship
B) the Messiah
C) God’s Love
D) Righteousness
E) Prayer
F) All
Answer Key 1.B 2. D 3. A 4.B 5.A 6.D 7.B 8.D 9.A 10.A 11.C 12.B 13.F
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February 24th, 2010
I just finished this book by Philip Yancey tonight. All I have to say is that more people need to read it and act on what they read.
One of the quotes that I want to share is actually quoted from another book which deals with the story of Will Campbell, a man who, after having a fiend of his killed by a KKK radical, went on to minister to the KKK. (If you’re interested in that book, it’s called Brother to a Dragonfly.) An agnostic friend of Will’s who constantly disputed his faith challenged him once again:
“In ten words or less, what’s the Christian message?”… We were going someplace, or coming back from someplace when he said, “Let me have it. Ten words.” I said, “We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway.” He didn’t comment on what he thought about the summary except to say, after he had counted the number of words on his fingers, “I gave you a ten-word limit. If you want to try again you have two words left.” I didn’t try again…
Thank God for His eternal Grace…
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