Dead man

Two days in a row! I don’t know if that’s ever happened. But I guess I just wanted to add a little more to what I wrote yesterday. I want to try and expound on why I think I feel this way sometimes.

I think the main reason, if there be no other, is the presence of sin in my life. I notice that when sin flares up a little more than usual in my life, that I consequently notice that I feel more distant from God and/or God feels more distant from me. But I think it’s more of the former than the latter—I AM more distant from God when I sin. I hate it. I don’t know why I do it. I don’t know why I can say in my mind, “don’t get pissed off in traffic, there’s nothing you can do about it, just take it easy and drive,” and then almost immediately fly off the handle and want intensely to kill the dude going 30 in the fast lane with his blinker on and no intention to change lanes. I store up this hatred inside me when I get where I’m going, and it just kind of eats away at me slowly until I get to where I am, where I just feel lost and without direction.

But God is always there, faithful to the end. Scripture says that even when we are faithless, God is faithful (2 Tim. 2:13). How true it is! God promises to finish that which he began (Phil. 1:6), and no one—not even us—can snatch us from the hand of God (Jn. 10:29), for salvation belongs to the Lord (Ps. 3:8), not to us. Now that’s some rapid fire doctrine right there. I can’t explain how mysteriously sometimes the grace just hits me and I come to my senses and I praise God for what he’s done for me in Christ. He leads me back to the path of righteousness, and I find true joy and rest in him.

Why I do not live daily and hourly in this joy, I cannot really comprehend. I don’t know why I stray and sin and think that I am somehow finding happiness in disobedience, when all it brings is empty despair. I don’t know when I will learn to stop trying to feed the old dead man, and start feeding the new living man (Eph. 4:22-24). It makes no sense to try and revive the dead man, because he will never get up and walk anywhere. But in my foolish mind, I think I can somehow put him on my back and make him dance like a puppet, when all that happens is that he becomes exceedingly heavy and burdensome and I can’t take the weight any longer, so I eventually stumble and fall. He’s not alive, he’s dead, and you can’t make a dead man dance with any amount of willpower. I don’t know why I am blind sometimes to the freedom and life that Christ offers. I wish it were easier to live as the man God made me to be, but it’s a constant struggle with this freakin’ dead man I am morbidly obsessed with on my back. God give me, and others that may struggle with the same, the faith, strength, and courage to throw him off and bury him a thousand feet deep in the Earth so that we may not continue to stumble but be renewed to press onward to the path of righteousness.

It's been a while...

I can think of so many things I could write about since I've taken such an extreme sabbatical from writing anything in this blog, which most people rarely do very consistently I've noticed. I could talk about the past year of my life and the dramatic and drastic turns it has taken. I could talk about some random theological topic. I could talk about some Bible verse that spoke to me this week. I could talk about some sermon I heard that made me break down and cry because it so resonated with my soul. But I’ll just try and convey what my current state is, perhaps just in the past few minutes.

I’m just really tired. Sometimes I just get really tired—tired of nothing. Sometimes I just get tired of feeling like there is nothing to plan, to think about, to write. Sometimes I feel like God is just silent in my life. Sometimes I feel like I have absolutely no plan in life, like my life is going nowhere. But they’re really just feelings, because my life is going somewhere currently. I’m getting married pretty soon (in February), and I am intensely excited about it. I know it’s God’s blessing in my life, and I thank him all the time for Emily. But sometimes, intellectual knowledge just doesn’t seem to be enough for me. I currently live away from her, and so much of my time is spent on the phone or writing instant messages and emails to her. It’s like I have a relationship with computers and phones. I’m really tired of it. But I don’t want to sound like I’m just finding things to whine about, since perhaps so many wish they had what I have, a beautiful woman to anticipate being with. But no sane person would ever aspire to a long-distance relationship. No one would ever aspire to a weekend emotional rollercoaster from the mountain of initial giddiness of seeing her on Friday night to the leveling off of Saturday afternoon routine, to the valley of Sunday sorrow upon leaving her or watching her drive away. It’s taking a toll on me, and my soul is worn-out.

But this isn’t really what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to talk about is…I’m tired of feeling like my life is in limbo, in a sort of constant pause-mode. Not only is this illustrated by the intangible space I live in of engagement to marriage, it’s indicative of the intangibility I feel oftentimes in the life of my soul. Sometimes I feel like my soul has no solid ground to stand on, like I’m just a mind floating around in the space of human philosophy, where I have to lean on my own understanding of this world and just “do the best I can” with my mind and wading through the ever-deepening ocean of humanity’s agenda, through the filth and temptation, through the religion and speculation. I’m sick of this feeling. It feels like God is absent, like I’m a blind man trying to find a jungle path with no one to guide me but other blind men. And the memories in my life where I know I’ve felt the hand of God leading me are wonderful to think upon, but for some reason are no help to me when I get lost again. They can’t comfort my broken spirit because they are just memories. And cognitively I know that others feel this all the time, but for some reason intellectual knowledge doesn’t really help me much. Theology sometimes irritates me more when I itch from frustration, because I know only God can sooth. Only God can satisfy and fill the vacuum in my heart, as Blaise Pascal would say.

And it may be nice to hear affirmation and consolation from others, but it doesn’t help me find that distant hand of God. At least it doesn’t seem that way.

So this really has no point, other than to complain about being unsatisfied with life apart from God. And also to say that there is really never an end to the majesty of Jesus and his ever-deepening presence and influence in the life of a saint. We never reach the end of Him and say, “well I’m satisfied, I can move on to other things now.” God is eternal, and 5 years ago I could never imagine I’d be where I am today. And I’m sure 5 years from now I’ll look back and say, “wow, God has made a lot of progress with me.” But on this page of my life, it’s difficult to take my eyes off this line and out of the book and see the bigger story. It’s difficult to know God is there sometimes, that he is Emmanuel, God with us.

But he is, if we believe his promise. But that’s probably the most difficult thing in this world—to live with faith in God’s promise is something every Christian is challenged with as a corequisite to being on Earth. Abraham did it, but he also failed miserably at times. As did Jacob, and pretty much everyone in the Hall of Faith chapter of the book of Hebrews (11). Read Genesis and you’ll realize that these heroes of our faith were normal everyday people like all of us, but God is the one who did mighty things through them. Perhaps this is my consolation, that God will finish the work he began, and that he will make good on his promises to me, and to all of us that know him. But between the realm of heaven and the dust of Earth is a grand chasm only crossed by faith. Believing and residing in the chasm is a difficult and painful way of life. I currently feel defeated, but I know that feelings are fleeting, so I don’t put much stock in them. But thanks for listening anyhow.

Amazing Grace

Observe the rain that drops from heaven. It falls on the desert as well as on the fertile field. It drops on the rock that will refuse its fertilizing moisture as well as on the soil that opens its gaping mouth to drink it in with gratitude. See, it falls on the hard-trodden streets of the populous city, where it is not required and where men will even curse it for coming. It falls no more freely where the sweet flowers have been panting for it and the withering leaves have been rustling forth their prayers.
Such is the grace of God. It does not visit us because we ask for it, much less because we deserve it. But as God wills it, the bottles of heaven are unstopped and grace descends. No matter how vile and black and foul and godless men may be, He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. That free, rich, overflowing goodness of His can make the very worst and least deserving the objects of His best and choicest love.

-Charles Spurgeon

Nehemiah - Part Three - Mark Driscoll

Nehemiah - Part Two - Mark Driscoll

Nehemiah - Part One - Mark Driscoll

Between the Sheets

Kaleo Church in Houston is starting a look into Scripture's most risque display of sexual liberation. Pastor Bill Streger is going through the Song of Solomon, and apparently going to be as frank as possible without crossing the line into the world of crudity and crassness, a feat certainly not accomplished more impressively than the American sex-perverted culture where sex is simply a vehicle for self-gratification and is all but detached from love, marriage, children, and God. It should be interesting. Perhaps I will write more of my thoughts on this topic at a later time.

There are banners you can click on on this blog, or you can go to www.whatsbetweenthesheets.com for the fancy official series page.

Additionally, something I've found very enlightening about this topic is a similar series on the Song of Songs preached by Mark Driscoll. He is a very effective communicator and doesn't shy away from speaking the truth, especially when it's not what we want to hear. See links below.

Part 1. The Virgin and the Vineyard I - Waiting for Love
Part 2. The Virgin and the Vineyard II - Falling in Love
Part 3. The Damsel and the Dream - Growing in Love
Part 4. The Queen and the Quest - Reflections on Consummating Love
Part 5. Recollection and Romance - Reflections on Growing in Love
Part 6. Romance and Reality - Reflections on Mature Love
Part 7. Homestead and Honeymoon - Reflections on Rekindling Love
Part 8. Tenderness and Tragedy - A Final Reflection


"A New Kind of Christian" - Emergent Church - Part 1

The "emerging" or "emergent" church (whatever it is) is a tricky thing to get your mind around because it's such a non-tangible movement if you are not involved in it, but the thinking in this philosophical upsurge is or has probably affected whatever church you're in to some extent, especially if you're in college or are involved in a young church. However visible this movement is to you, the thinking associated with it can be evaluated with a little concentrated effort. I hope to provide at least a jump start for anyone curious.

The leaders in this movement, some of them being Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Doug Pagitt, and Karen Ward are closely tied to the Emergent Village, presumably a voice for leading this mission. I won't go on about its history, but its leaders play an important role in understanding it. You can read on if you want by going to the Almighty Wikipedia.

What I do want to do is address what they actually teach and believe. So here goes. Please forgive me for some of my wordings. It is difficult to arrange my ideas in a way that is effective especially for this topic because it's so broad. Bear with me, I have a point.

The emerging (or emergent, I'm not entirely sure if it matters which one I use) type church people have a strange view on truth. They seem to want to claim they hold to historic Christian beliefs such as the inerrancy (or at least the authority) of Scripture. But if you look closely at their practice, it seems a little on the side of postmodern rather than Christian (if you are unfamiliar with postmodernism, again check out Wikipedia if you desire). Postmodernism is roughly defined as a rejection of absolute truth, whereas Christianity is sort of the opposite in that our truth lies on the Gospel, and it is unshakable.

Moving on, the emergent church is all about "questioning truth" and knowing why we believe what we do, which is fine and should be encouraged to a point. The central problem comes in when they start questioning God Himself and the sacrifice of Jesus. There is a move by this movement, whether admittedly or knowingly or not, to place emphasis off the substitutionary atonement of Christ for our sins and think of him more as a really nice guy that took a beating and was merely a great example of how to live, giving to the poor and whatnot. He very much was this, but there shouldn't be confusion here. There can never be too much emphasis placed on the Event that divides and reworks history as we know it. The entire New Testament, for that fact the entire Bible, is ripe with emphasis on the Gospel. It's all that's talked about really.

The postmodern, emergent crowd wants to be very "new" and have a new way of "being a Christian," as Brian McLaren might put it, but if we are trying to be "new and different Christians," what are we to say about those Christians that came before us? Is our Christianity better than that of Paul, Augustine, or Aquinas? I would submit that we should not lose focus on the faith that was "once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 3) Faith is faith. Trust in Christ is never shifted from definition, its importance, or its truth. Christians 2000 years ago have the same faith as Christians today: faith in God who alone rescues us from certain doom. I would submit that the emerging crowd wants to be "cutting edge" so badly that they have left sound reason somewhat and trying to reinvent rather than reform the church. Reform is good; it led to measureless progress and correction from Roman Catholic heresies, but even the Roman Catholic Church was originally built on the same Foundation and Faith originally dispensed by the Holy Spirit. The root of the problem with emerging church thinking is that they take questioning of truth too far, in that they end up questioning God Himself, His nature, and His character. At least this is the only logical outworking of what they are seeking to accomplish, that being, I suppose, a postmodern church: something hip, philosophically cutting edge and new.

Part of this I think is a noble attempt at reform and correcting some of the tremendous problems with modernistic, Enlightenment type thinking. Part of it however is unavoidably a decrease of faith and recognition of God's authority, unchangingness, and sovereignty over our lives. Where do we draw the line in questioning the basic pillars of Christianity? Rob Bell thinks it's "okay" for a Christian to not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus (in his book Velvet Elvis). He claims that the virgin birth is merely a "brick" of doctrine in the "wall" of Christian teaching that will not bring down the whole "wall" if removed. This is very faulty logic and is like taking a metaphor that sounds good, running with it, and ending up with no point in the end, as if he is only using this metaphor of a wall to try and sound new and hip in his writing, in my opinion.

The fact is if you take away the virgin birth of Jesus, you not only lose Jesus, you take away the authority of Scripture because it reporting lies, and we are left with only a feel good religion that lacks authority and absolute truth and you can be a "Christian" any way you want to. If you don't like the fact that unrepentant sinners spend eternity in anguish in hell, you don't have to believe it, but it still doesn't change the fact that it's true and will occur. All the efforts to be "tolerant," "open," or "welcoming of other faiths," only result in a lack of authority, tons of questions with no answers, and inevitably a complete loss of hope. I am not saying we should not be welcoming in terms of loving people and wanting them to trust in Christ, but are we to begin questioning God Himself? Are we to begin questioning the justice of God? His love? His wrath? His incarnation? His death? His resurrection? Are they merely bricks in the wall of Christianity? Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, our faith is in vain and we are without hope. All we are left with is another empty human religion with false hope.

How do emergent types deal with this inevitable outworking of their philosophy and theology? I see no other way out. No, I think we must take a cue from Scripture here. Jude 3-4 warns us of false teacher:

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude exhorts us to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, us Christians. Ephesians 4:4-6 echoes this well:

There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call--one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

There is one faith, faith in Christ who took our sin upon himself and not only rescued us from the deserved wrath of the Father, but took the punishment by bearing our iniquities. We must contend, fight for the faith delivered to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Isaiah, David, Samuel, Noah, Peter, Paul, Jesus, and us today, because it's the same faith: faith in Christ for our redemption. Paul warns also against false teaching in 1 Tim. 6:3:

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understand nothing.

I am compelled to think that this means that all wisdom comes from a healthy understanding of the Gospel, which is unchanging. Fools that don't understand the Gospel malign the word of God and formulate their own theologies that are full of conceit and really end up understanding nothing.

According to Paul, there are doctrines we should contend for and some we should not tolerate in the family of God because of the destructive, misleading nature of the latter. God cares about His people and does not wish them to go astray. It is the responsibility of pastors primarily to guard their flocks from dangerous teaching that threatens and diminishes the sovereignty of Jesus and the utter importance of his work on the cross, that alone is our hope and object of faith. It is also the responsibility of each family, each father, each mother, each husband, each wife, each individual to guard against false teaching brought into the church by wolves in sheep's clothing. This carefulness cannot be simply written off as "fundamentalist" or "intolerant" thinking. Would you let your kids be taught that you really are not their father/mother? Would you let them be taught to question your authority and loving commands? Would you watch your child run in front of oncoming traffic, stop, and say "well, that's his opinion?" No! We guard those we love and warn them against lies spread by wolves. It's the same in the family of God, the Church. We should be on guard at all times, even when a hip new theology comes along.

None of what I say here is to imply or express that certain "emergent" types thinkers are not sincere or that they are not Christians. It really matters not who is teaching something. We should judge what is being taught either way.

"A New Kind of Christian" - Emergent Church - Intro

If you have been around the buzz circle in Christianity lately, though it sounds so lame to even say and a large part of this "circle" is really just the blog world with a bunch of internet freaks with high speed connections, you may have heard a lot of choice phrases and terms being thrown out. Words like "emergent" and "emerging" (they are somehow different, though really the same). Words like "postmodern", "missional theology," "ecclesiology,", "theological trajectory," and "new monastic communities." What the heck is all this stuff?

I hope to try and answer these questions the best I can with the research I've done on it through a few different entries in the near future. Also, I want to present concerns and worries about this "new movement" in today's Christianity. I believe many good things are coming forth from this movement (the 'emerging church movement'), but I also believe there are some serious dangers that exist in these types of theological lines.

I would like to explain how this subject came up.

I was thinking a lot about missions, as can be seen in the past few blog entries, and I've also been hearing a lot about "emerging" churches from my own circle around the internet with the aforementioned freaks. I am witnessing some of my former bubble of Christian friends/buddies start to peak interest in this new movement, and many of them seem to be doing so because they sense a need for change or reform in today's church, which is largely denominational, and appears to be seeking revitalization from dead an dying traditions. This can be a good thing, but can also be a dangerous thing if it is not handled carefully I think.

So please indulge me if you would be so kind.

Later, all 1 of you.

Job cut me down

Happy New Year.

For the first time in my life I spent New Year's Eve alone. I know it sounds sad, but it was actually the better of two options for me. My family had a stupid little conflict over what to do to celebrate. Originally, my brother Tim had hinted at doing something big for New Year's because 2006 has been so crappy for our family and friends (a divorce, a virtual divorce, adultery, divorce) and it seemed fitting to end it all and try and start over anew in our lives in a big way. Well, as it usually goes in our family, when it gets down to actually deciding what to do there is always a problem. We wanted to go skiing somewhere but the airline tickets were so dang expensive that it just wouldn't have worked. Someone mentioned a few days ago that some hotel near DFW airport has a little New Year's party type thing, and so we sort of planned on doing that, though dancing to forced, live music is not my idea of fun. When it got to last night, everyone was pretty much conflicted on going or not. I got kind of depressed last night at the idea of going and seeing a bunch of couples having fun and laughing, and I know all I would be thinking about was the girl I've lost and remembering all the good times, and that would just kill me even more. Plus, parties with dancing where it feels like people are trying to force me to have fun is not my idea of fun. I'd rather stay home. I guess I'm weird for being this way.

Also, my sister Karen had some issues with going for whatever reason. My brother Michael and his new woman/girlfriend/whatever were confusing us with whether they were going or not. So it all ended up after all the confusion that everyone went but me, because I know I would not have been able to bear it. There are things I can do at home that can occupy my thoughts and keep them off of wanting to slip into depression/suicidal mode.

I went out and drove around a little bit. It was kind of like a movie where the lonely guy walks around in the dark and sees in windows of houses families and friends gathering together having good times, and for a moment he feels like he has lost everything good in his life. I sorta felt that way knowing that so many people right then were with the ones they loved, the persons they wanted to spend the rest of their liveswith. Just to know that I had that and lost it and to be reminded of it by looking at people who appear to have it, it's just kind of surreal like I'm watching a movie of myself that I have no control over, like it's all been determined and directed already and all I can do is observe what others are doing and react to it. It really sort of confronts my idea of how the world works, that being that I can control my own destiny if I just try real hard. I'm more led to believe that things just happen because they're bound to, and that the only real trying I can do is just to deceive myself into thinking that I have some sort of control on how things turn out. I tend to reject the idea that we really have any sort of effect on what happens in our lives, because when things go bad and you are struck with heartache, you always think, "how did this happen to me?", "where did it all go wrong?"

The only conclusion I am left with after all the misery/depression/heartache is that God has a purpose set before the foundations of the Earth (Ephesians 1:4) that is bigger than me and who am I to understand it and who am I that I should have any say in it? How could I question the motives and actions of a holy and righteous God who is all-powerful and all-knowing? I am just a speck in the universe with no power of my own. Where was I when Jesus laid the foundations of the Earth? I didn't set its measurements, or lay its cornerstone. I have never commanded the sun to rise. I cannot bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion. I have never commanded an eagle to mount up or drawn Leviathan out with a fishhook. I do not know the time the mountain goats give birth or who sets the wild donkey free.* I am nothing compared to the glorious God I worship, and when things happen to me, who am I to claim that God is unfair or that I have the right to be depressed/upset/angry at God because things didn't go my way? God keeps the universe in order and still has the concern to deal personally in my heart and to give me His righteousness through Jesus, wiping my sin away and making me His own. How can I respond with anything but worship and adoration to Him? When things suck in my life (or in your life), when things don't go my way, I am left to agree with Job in saying, "Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to [God]? I lay my hand on my mouth." (40:4) I have nothing to say to God but that He is good and great and glorious, not because of what happens to me in my insignifant lifespan or of some mystical spiritual experience that we're supposed to have and what was forced down my throat by people in college claiming to know God in this way, but just because of who He is and what He's done in Jesus' life and death on the cross for His people and how it's all spoon-fed and spelled out to us in Scripture. He knows all. We must confess our sin in trying to know everything that happens to us and understanding it all. We are not God. Job's friends, like all of us, think we have some clever little theological understanding of things that fit nicely into the little box of our 3-pound fallen brains. God will not be mocked by this. We must reject this and understand that God is more important than us. We are not important, but God makes us His own and involves us in His great plans to glorify righteousness because He is gracious and merciful. We must not try and understand every terrible or good thing that happens to us, but reply with Job that, "[God] can do all things, and that no purpose of [His] can be thwarted." (Job 42:2) He has a purpose that is bigger than we can understand and that we could never make happen on our own even if given the chance and the ability because we are a wicked people. I know I am. But God is good.

So that's what happened for New Year's 2007 for me. Just thought I would share that with the 1 or 2 people who might read this.

*references to Job 38-41

New Stuff

Holy crap, I have spent the early morning doing nothing but screwing with this freaking blog. Nonetheless, I have added tons of new stuff to it in the hopes of edifying whoever may happen to read this. Lots of media has been added that can be of great help to anyone who is interested. There is a lot of wisdom and help to be gained from the great preachers and teachers represented here. Look into some of this and hopefully I'll hear from you about any thoughts or comments you may have about anything. Enjoy!

Go Where He Leads - Some Thoughts on "Missions" Pt. 3

At this point, I would like to clarify further what I am getting at.

The point behind the Gospel call and “missions” is not to make it appear as if God is in heaven fighting a battle against evil forces and needs soldiers to help win the war. It is not as if we are crucial to God’s mission to glorify righteousness and we must recognize our inherent importance to join God’s side. This sort of thinking is really just man-centered theology, whether we are willing to recognize it and call it what it is or not. Make no mistake about it—God does not need us to glorify righteousness. God has existed in loving community as the Trinity for all of eternity and before the foundations of the Earth were laid. He was not obligated to create man. Some “theologians” have postulated that God had to create man because “He is love” (1 John 4:16) and love must have an object of affection. This is a dangerous statement, because whenever we start prescribing rules about how God “had to do something,” we can slip into faulty doctrine and even heresy real quickly. No, God did not have to create anything. He could have existed for all of eternity; He could have chilled as the Trinity forever without any evil or wickedness manifested. (As a side note, I sometimes wonder why God went to all the trouble to bring us into being and have us go through all this sin, pain, and heartache, and only for many humans to never see the depravity of themselves, never see the greatness of God, never repent from their sin, and spend an eternity in hell tormented in the presence of a seemingly harmless Lamb. I will never understand it, but I must nevertheless trust that God knows what He’s doing). Anywho, God is not obligated to do anything, and He is not in need of wicked sinners.

The point, when all theology and missiology is broken down, is that God is good. He’s holy meaning different than us, He’s just, and He’s righteous but He can also be nice and merciful when He sees fit. He’s loving and gracious. In Jesus He displayed humility in coming down to be His creation (Immanuel = God with us in Hebrew). This tells us that we must not strive to be with God by reaching in futility to heaven like the fools and the Tower of Babel, this because we are powerless in our humanity to please God. Rather, God has come down from heaven as a human to be with us. Genesis tells us that He did so on a stairway to heaven that Jacob saw in a dream while napping with his head on a rock (Led Zeppelin totally ripped off the Old Testament). This Stairway that Jacob saw, according to Jesus’ own words in John 1:51 is the Son of Man, Jesus himself.

God, in His own use if irony and unpredictable graciousness, has decided to defeat evil by using evil, us wicked sinners. He changes us to be different people and empowers us to live differently than we previously did. This only happens by grace. We can only be used for good by His grace. God does not choose us based on our own innate ability, like designating some of us varsity and the rest junior varsity. The Bible tells us that He does not practice favoritism. Rather, He takes crappy people and does amazing things with them. Romans 9 tells us that “He has mercy on whom He wills, and He has compassion on whom He wills.” This is the pattern in the Old Testament, where God takes dumb, unaware, average guys and empowers them to do miraculous things. Abram was just living a normal life like everyone else, likely a pagan, and God showed up in His life, gave him grace, and promised him a son even though his wife was barren and he was passed his child-bearing years. He commanded Abram to leave his hometown and his father’s house to go start a different and set-apart life that would be used to “bless all nations.” The New Testament tells us that this blessing was not only the nation of Israel, a people outnumbering the stars in the sky, but it was Jesus himself who would bless all people with his substitutionary life, atoning death, and powerful resurrection. The Gospel was then spread all over the world and today Jesus’ legacy is a few billion people that worship him as God, the promise made to Abram, a lowly guy from some no-name town, just like all of us who have experienced the great mercy of God.

It is then that we see that the idea of missions is not about us recognizing God’s need for us or lost peoples’ need for us, but really recognizing our need for God. For it is Him that takes us and does great things with us; and I believe that it is not until our hearts are humbled and we realize our utter nothingness without God that we can truly become all things to all people that we may win some to Him. We must trust in Him who justifies us and in His Gospel that possesses His power. Even though the spiritually blind regard the preaching of the Gospel as utter foolishness, for those that believe we know of its power because we have experienced it. And it is the collective privilege of the missionaries, the seminarians, and the pastors; as well as the single mothers, the children, the cubicle trolls, the husbands, the wives, the fathers, and the friends to be about this Gospel in everything we do because we possess the power of God in our mouths, in our hands, and in how we live. Praise God we have such a blessing to give to all people and that we ourselves who believe on Jesus’ name have received this blessing spoken to Adam, Abraham, and Jacob and to all those that trust in the life he gives freely to us lowly people. Amen.

Go Where He Leads - Some Thoughts on "Missions" Pt. 2

I have given more thought to this issue, and I have realized how very important it is how we understand all this. How we answer this question I believe speaks volumes about what we really think about God and His ultimate sovereignty over all peoples, situations, and happenings.

I guess the bottom line question here is, "who's in charge?" By that I mean us to ask ourselves who we think is running the show, who is getting things done in the world, who is spreading the Gospel, who is causing nations to fall to their knees, and who gets the glory? Upon hearing such questions, the obvious Sunday-school answer is, well, obvious: it's God. But the point I wish to make here is, do we really know this and live like it's true? To illustrate this last statement by an example, the great reformer Martin Luther was once asked by his congregation why he continued to preach the Gospel every week in his sermons, as if to imply that they wanted him to give them something more to fill their souls, something that had more "weight" to it, as it were. When asked why he continued to preach the Gospel week by week, he answered: "Because Beloved, week by week you forget it." I think the situation in this German church is similar to what is happening in our world today. We think that because we know about Jesus and we know the Gospel message, that somehow we can now "move on" to more important things, or move on to the good stuff because we're ready, like the Gospel is old hat, it's about Jesus dying on the cross...blah...blah...raised from the dead...blah...seated at the right hand of God Almighty....blah....blah. The problem with such thinking is really quite obvious: we have nothing more. It's not something we have to think real hard about and develop some silly drawn-up application to our lives. The Gospel is what it is, and we know that "it's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16) and that we should not be ashamed of it for this very reason (rest of verse). I think we have slipped into sin in this area as the Church, at least in some circles. We think there is something more past the Gospel that will really feed us, that will really make our lives better, but the fact is we are ashamed of the Gospel if we deny its power to change lives--from the beginning to the end, for God is the author as well as the finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2), and His power lies in the Gospel of Jesus.

All this to make the point that I think we, including me, have failed in believing the Gospel, and in believing the Commission, which are both really the same thing if you think about it (i.e. Jesus going after all types of people, so we should also). We have failed to make the Commission our mission (not to sound redundant and lame....ok scratch that). Let me try again: We have failed to obey Jesus Christ, the Almighty Sovereign Lord of the Universe who holds us in His hand as if over a raging fire (keep it simple). Ok, I had to throw in some J. Ed. Perhaps we need some good ol' fear of God back in us. Ok, I've gotten off. I'll try to regroup.

To connect all this rabbit-trailing, what I am getting at is that we have failed to trust God. We have failed to be about the Gospel in all we do. We have failed in many respects in just, well, trusting God. Not to be repetitive, but I think it's really the problem. We have this thing where we say, "God's got everything in control," and then we say stuff like, "we need to preach the Gospel to those guys with warpaint all over them because they will never know Jesus if we don't," as if we are really that important. There's obvious confusion here I think. Now sure, as Paul asks, "how will they hear without a preacher?" (Rom. 10:14) But we must be slow to answer the question, "oh we have to do it or else it will never happen," because we're the important guys, right, us Christians, right, we're special, right? Well....not really. We're really just a bunch of people God decided to be nice to and be spared from a righteous and just wrath (read about Noah and the flood that slayed all but 8 people off the face of the Earth if you're skeptical here, a nice children's story I might add.......). We need our priorities straighted out here. God has chosen to be nice to us by giving us Jesus as a sacrifice, so "how will he not also graciously give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32) This includes the empowerment to live as He wills, sanctifying us into the image of His Son, doing the good works God "prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph. 2:10) This includes missions (here we are finally). These are the good works He prepared in advance for us.

Ephesians 2 says that we are God's workmanship, by His grace, and we do good works by His grace, and we have faith by His grace...grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. Get the point? It's all a gift, it's all a gift, it's all a gift. Your faith is a gift, the faith that claims the righteousness of Christ and not our crappy lives is a gift. The faith that boldy trust that God's promises about Jesus taking away our sin is true. It's all just one big gift. Think of all the good things in your life; they're all gifts. James says 'every good and perfect gift comes from God'. Go look it up, I'm tired of looking up the verse numbers.

We must not forget where our power comes from. The power to preach the Gospel comes from the Gospel. The power to see sinners come to the feet of the cross is from the Gospel. The power to live redeemed lives free from the hindering and crushing work of sin is from the Gospel. And it's Jesus who makes all things work together for good for those that love him. It's Jesus behind the scenes giving you a 'calling', a 'personality', friends, coworkers, etc. Acts 17:26 says that God determines the time and the place that you will live, and also provides you the means to accomplish your mission because He is the one who prepared it all in advance for you to do. The message is simple, but actually really perplexing: God's in control, but do your part, because it makes things so much simpler and easier. Like I said before (and not to be oversimplistic because each of these things deserve prayer and contemplation before figuring out and executing), preach the Gospel, go where you like, marry someone that loves Jesus and is with you on the Gospel mission, love your neighbor, etc. And I will say also, what you do, where you go, who you marry, who you preach the Gospel to, who your neighbor is, are all not nearly as important, I would venture to say are not important (again, don't misunderstand me) in comparison to who you worship, because our God is infinitely bigger God than any of our little issues on Earth and all knees will bow to the Sovereign in the end. Thank you Jesus. Amen.

Go Where He Leads - Some Thoughts on "Missions" Pt. 1

I was thinking just a few minutes ago about how we, perhaps moreso in American Christian culture (though I am no expert), view God's call on us to "do missions."

There's a lot of talk in Christian bubbles today about missions. Most of the time the people that are super fired up about missions we regard as some sort of higher breed of Christian, people that are willing to be poor and live off of a steady diet of baloney and/or vienna sausage (that stuff rules by the way) while living amongst natives of far-off "unreached" and primitive civilizations. Oftentimes, from my experience in dealing with and knowing a lot of peers that wish to be missionaries in distant lands, we get this somewhat unrealistic view, maybe not overtly sometimes, that if we don't make this huge move somewhere overseas or in the most remote village in Zbembezedjfd or wherever, that we are somehow not "responding to the call of God." Now I am quick to agree that Jesus commanded to preach the gospel in all nations and to make disciples of all people, but I think it's easy sometimes to just reduce the Commission to the people that do go to other countries and to so-called unreached people groups that haven't heard the name of Jesus.

Or perhaps we can even reduce "the call" to people that decide to go to seminary and be religious "professionals." The problem with such thinking is that it creates this hierarchy of spirituality where we can agree that we are all Christians, but sometimes we who just stay at home and work a mundane job can feel the temptation to exalt these "missionaries" and "seminarians" to a higher status in God's spiritual pyramid scheme where Jesus sits at the top and we can become like him by making the right decisions, gritting our teeth, being moral, and depending on our own will to attain the righteousness of Christ. We view them as spiritual super heroes that somehow never struggle, never miss reading their Bible, never cease praying, and are even never suffering from sin in their lives, both those they have committed and those that have been committed against them. I believe we must resist the temptation to do this because we are focusing so much on other people and our failures to live up to them instead of focusing on Jesus and the righteousness he imparts to us by his death and resurrection achieved according to his own grace and love.

If we get stuck on this type of man-centered thinking, it can distort where we think our righteousness is obtained. This can also happen to the person who is "called" to go overseas or to seminary. We have a strange view of God's "call" I think. We are raised by the institutional American church (usually the mainstream denominations) to try real hard to "hear the call of God," so we say. Granted, this is true, but we must be careful in how we understand this. We must ask ourselves: what is the call of God? Is it different to each person? Should I wait for God to speak audibly to me or give me a vision? In thinking about these questions, we must not overlook some of the clearest commands of God and how we are to respond to His call to us. Primarily, we must not overlook the inspiration of Scripture, and also the speaking of the Holy Spirit to our hearts. Furthermore, it must be understood that the Holy Spirit will never call us to do something contrary to Scripture, for He Himself "inspired" it ('breathed life into it') (2 Tim. 3:16), and for Him to do so it would seem He was either a horrible communicator because He couldn't get the message right the first time, or that He was some sort of whimsical schizophrenic who gives commands based on some ridiculous capricious nature that change from moment to moment. No, we must refuse this heretical teaching.

Secondly, we can have a confused outlook on God's call to us. We can take one aspect of the Gospel call and run with it, while ignoring the remaining crucial parts, for the entire Gospel is to be regarded when obeying Jesus' Commission. We cannot say "we must all be overseas missionaries," or "we must all go to seminary," or "we must leave our homes and spread the Gospel to the unreached peoples because how can anyone know Jesus unless it is us who tells them?" Let me just say, a lot of this kind of talk is nonsensical. Who are we to say what we should be? Who are we to prescribe what the call of God is to us, or more broadly what the will of God is for the nations of the Earth? And how do we know that those "primitive" civilizations don't know Jesus? Can we claim that Jesus can't show up to them and reveal himself? I want to be clear here. God does not need us. He is all-powerful, omnipotent, the Almighty God, however you want to put it. The point is He can get things done without us, but the amazing thing is He chooses to use us and include us in His purposes. Therefore we must approach the "call of God" or the "will of God" humbly and ask God to glorify His name by using us however He sees fit. We must remember who is in charge here. It's not us. We must remember that God will get what He wants done, done. We must remember that God is on a mission also, a much bigger one, and unlike us, He never fails. Jesus was the ultimate missionary. He came to a foreign land for one reason: to save sinners, and he completed his mission to the nth degree. He shouted "it is finished!" from the cross, and indeed it is. He has completed his mission on the cross and from His perspective outside of time, He has already won the battle for our souls. We must recognize by the grace given to us that we must repent from our sin and turn to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Ephesians 2 tells us that we are saved by grace through faith, and both of these are gifts He gives according to the purpose He set out before the foundations of the Earth to glorify Himself, the source of all righteousness.

I think the main point I am trying to make is that we must not get too caught up in "trying to hear the call of God", wondering which country to go to, and being really good at guessing the secret will of God. All people need Jesus, and God will "have mercy on whomever He wills" (Rom. 9:15), so we must rest our hope on Him who is faithful that He will accomplish His purposes and He can use us in any circumstance, in any country, in every moment of time if it be His desire. We must hold fast to the truth, worship God in all circumstances, and preach the Gospel whether in season or out of season. So I say, do whatever you like, go wherever you want, marry whomever you want, work wherever you want, but preach the Gospel, love your neighbor, love your wife, submit to your husband, pray, take up your cross, glorify His purpose, love your enemies, do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God--in your words and how you live, and know that our only source of righteousness does not come from what country we're in or where we work, but from the crimson flow of Christ, Hallowed be Thy Name. Amen.

Ryan Ferguson recites Hebrews chapters 9 and 10

This is really cool. Try to imagine it's the first time you've ever heard it. This video is from the WorshipGod06 Conference Aug. 9-12, 2006. Ryan Ferguson is giving a memorized dramatic recitation of Hebrews 9 and 10 from the ESV Bible. God’s Word is powerful. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version is copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.