Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
One Day Without Shoes
Toms One Day Without Shoes is a little over 5 days away! Check out the link for more info! :)
http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/
http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Rich Young Ruler.
Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast.
The Rich Young Ruler
Mark 10:13-34
Come empty and humble, with a need for God, a dependency. Jesus is better than our stuff, and he needs us to figure that out for ourselves.
"The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him."- CS Lewis
Friday, March 25, 2011
Mid-Lent slump.
I've been in a bit of a funk this week, it's probably due to the fact that I haven't listened to a podcast since Sunday. Yell at me if you want but I've been yelling at myself enough for all of us. I wish had an excuse but I don't other than pure laziness and lack of discipline. I have started rereading Radical by David Platt though, and if you've read it before you know that 1 chapter of Radical = 10+ slaps in the face. It doesn't justify my laziness, but I'm glad I'm rereading it. (Quick Tip: I wouldn't advise reading Radical before bed, because you will lay awake for at least an hour mad at the world and disappointed in yourself for not being a better Christ follower, just FYI)
But anyways, after work tomorrow morning, my #1 priority is watching this weeks Breakaway podcast. We're a little over halfway through Lent so keeping my focus strong is going to be key, therefore prayers will be appreciated, and of course i'll return the favor. :)
I want to add a short excerpt from Surprised By Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by: C.S. Lewis. It's something I've been meaning to share with you guys for awhile but I keep forgetting. This book is taking the back burner for awhile until I get through Radical, but If your at all interested in C.S. Lewis and the steps he took from being an atheist to one of the most knowledgeable Christ followers to date, I would totally recommend this book to you. The only thing though, Lewis loved big, rarely used words, so its not an easy read.
"The reader who finds these three episodes of no interest need read this book no further, for in a sense the central story of my life is about nothing else. For those who are still disposed to proceed I will only underline the quality common to the three experiences; it is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and from Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with then; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that, and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally well be called a particular kind of unhappiness of grief. But then it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is. " (pg. 15,16)
But anyways, after work tomorrow morning, my #1 priority is watching this weeks Breakaway podcast. We're a little over halfway through Lent so keeping my focus strong is going to be key, therefore prayers will be appreciated, and of course i'll return the favor. :)
I want to add a short excerpt from Surprised By Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by: C.S. Lewis. It's something I've been meaning to share with you guys for awhile but I keep forgetting. This book is taking the back burner for awhile until I get through Radical, but If your at all interested in C.S. Lewis and the steps he took from being an atheist to one of the most knowledgeable Christ followers to date, I would totally recommend this book to you. The only thing though, Lewis loved big, rarely used words, so its not an easy read.
"The reader who finds these three episodes of no interest need read this book no further, for in a sense the central story of my life is about nothing else. For those who are still disposed to proceed I will only underline the quality common to the three experiences; it is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and from Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with then; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that, and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally well be called a particular kind of unhappiness of grief. But then it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is. " (pg. 15,16)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Receive the Word.
Not many notes again, but i gave you the info for the podcast before my notes so go listen to it, my notes always suck anyways.
Receive the Word
James 1:18-27
Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast
- Before you go out and do work that is in this book (bible) you need to let it work on you.
- You need to grab a new identity by the Word, understand a new relationship to the Word, then pursue an activity with the Word.
- When you decide to follow Christ, opening up and reading the bible shouldn’t be interesting, it should be like food and water for you, something that feeds and nourishes, something that keeps you alive. Let it affect you.
- When a believer is not near the Word of God they cry out like a baby cries for milk. Put it in you, its your food and drink.
- Don’t be someone who read the Word and walks away from it. In the scripture it says don’t be like a man who looks at himself in the mirror then walks away and forgets what he looks like. Come to the bible like a woman comes to the mirror. When a woman comes to the mirror she expects to change something. Let the bible change something.
-James gives you no technique.
- James says that for those of you who read the Bible and get nothing out of it, you have an angry and proud spirit. Receive the word with meekness. Be slow to anger, be slow to speak, but be quick to hear.
- Anger can be a good thing. Anger is an energy that is release when you need to defend or preserve something. But there is a bad anger. You know you have a cancerous anger when your quick to get angry and when your anger leads to evil. This anger comes out when you are defending your own pride.
-At the end of the day, our opinions don’t matter and mean nothing, the Bible holds all the answers. Our opinions trumping the Word is pure arrogance.
Receive the Word
James 1:18-27
Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast
- Before you go out and do work that is in this book (bible) you need to let it work on you.
- You need to grab a new identity by the Word, understand a new relationship to the Word, then pursue an activity with the Word.
- When you decide to follow Christ, opening up and reading the bible shouldn’t be interesting, it should be like food and water for you, something that feeds and nourishes, something that keeps you alive. Let it affect you.
- When a believer is not near the Word of God they cry out like a baby cries for milk. Put it in you, its your food and drink.
- Don’t be someone who read the Word and walks away from it. In the scripture it says don’t be like a man who looks at himself in the mirror then walks away and forgets what he looks like. Come to the bible like a woman comes to the mirror. When a woman comes to the mirror she expects to change something. Let the bible change something.
-James gives you no technique.
- James says that for those of you who read the Bible and get nothing out of it, you have an angry and proud spirit. Receive the word with meekness. Be slow to anger, be slow to speak, but be quick to hear.
- Anger can be a good thing. Anger is an energy that is release when you need to defend or preserve something. But there is a bad anger. You know you have a cancerous anger when your quick to get angry and when your anger leads to evil. This anger comes out when you are defending your own pride.
-At the end of the day, our opinions don’t matter and mean nothing, the Bible holds all the answers. Our opinions trumping the Word is pure arrogance.
C.S. Lewis Daily
"I don't doubt the Spirit guides you from within, but he also speaks through Scripture, Church, Friends, etc."- C.S. Lewis
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Daily stuff.
Tempted and Tried
Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast
James 1:12-18.
Didn't feel like typing out a thousand notes because i'm still not really sure if many people care to read them or not, if you do take the time, it would just be smarter and better if you go to iTunes and download them. All of the podcasts I listen to are free and range between 30-50 minutes depending on the speaker. I'll put a title list at the end.
Heres the gist: God will never tempt you, because he cannot be tempted, and you better not blame him when your tempted. He will test your faith. Temptation comes from you, it is your response to your own desire. Temptations will always be tailor made for you. Temptation itself is not a sin, but when you enact the will you've made a decision to go someplace you shouldn't. Desire leads to sin and sin leads to death. It all starts with you thinking God isn't being a good dad, then you go out and get it yourself. Anything that promises to fill the vacancies in your life that is ungodly will lead to death. When death looks like life, have the discipline to see it for what it is. God saves and brings forth life and will do glorious things with your pain if you let him.
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date."- C.S. Lewis
Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast: main speaker- Ben Stuart (too big to download on iPhone's, there is just an audio version if you dont want to use a computer)
Passion City Church Podcast: main speaker- Louie Giglio
Cornerstone Simi Video Podcast: main speaker: Francis Chan (there is also a simi audio, but if i'm not watching the speaker its hard for me to stay focused.)
Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast
James 1:12-18.
Didn't feel like typing out a thousand notes because i'm still not really sure if many people care to read them or not, if you do take the time, it would just be smarter and better if you go to iTunes and download them. All of the podcasts I listen to are free and range between 30-50 minutes depending on the speaker. I'll put a title list at the end.
Heres the gist: God will never tempt you, because he cannot be tempted, and you better not blame him when your tempted. He will test your faith. Temptation comes from you, it is your response to your own desire. Temptations will always be tailor made for you. Temptation itself is not a sin, but when you enact the will you've made a decision to go someplace you shouldn't. Desire leads to sin and sin leads to death. It all starts with you thinking God isn't being a good dad, then you go out and get it yourself. Anything that promises to fill the vacancies in your life that is ungodly will lead to death. When death looks like life, have the discipline to see it for what it is. God saves and brings forth life and will do glorious things with your pain if you let him.
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date."- C.S. Lewis
Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast: main speaker- Ben Stuart (too big to download on iPhone's, there is just an audio version if you dont want to use a computer)
Passion City Church Podcast: main speaker- Louie Giglio
Cornerstone Simi Video Podcast: main speaker: Francis Chan (there is also a simi audio, but if i'm not watching the speaker its hard for me to stay focused.)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Recognizing the Word of God
I didn't listen to a podcast yesterday and its effected me today, so i spent a lot of time with this one today. This is a really great message to listen to if you are struggling with believing that the bible really is the true words of God. This message is based on Paul preaching to the Thessalonian's and modelling after him about how to approach people so they buy it.
Recognizing the Word of God
1 Thessalonians 2:13
Breakaway Ministries Video podcast
1 Thessalonians 2:13
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
-We need the words of God.
-Are we just random molecules bouncing around that at any moment can be tyrannized by the whims of unstable men? Or is there meaning and purpose to all this?
-We need a God to give us subjective answers to why bad things happen.
-We long for truth because there is such a thing as truth. We long for answers because there is such a thing as answers and we were meant to know them.
-We long for the transcendent because He exists, and we are made to know him.
-Pain serves to jostle us out of the mundane and remind us that these big questions are stirring in us and we need answers.
-The good news is that the God who is communicates with us.
-We are obviously communicative creatures, we like to talk to each other. That’s not random, we look like our Dad in this. We were made in the image of God and we long to communicate because we have a God and he communicates.
-What we have in our bible is not theology. Theology are mans thoughts about what God might be like. What we have in the bible is revelation that God has come to tell us what he is like.
-Paul is writing to the Thessalonians and he’s thanking God again, he says I thank God constantly for this, that when you heard the words of God from us you received them as not the words of men but as what they really are, that is the word of God.
-How did they know that? What about that presentation made them think that’s not the words of some philosopher, those are the very words of the God who created all things.
-How did they know that? And how can we know that?
-Some people say they were just so primitive back then and that when someone said these were the words of God that they just believed it. That’s not actually true.
-When Paul preached to the Greeks it challenged there world view, and it took them awhile to buy it.
-When the Thessalonians heard it and sat and struggled with it they see that what we have here really are the words of God.
-How do we know that we have the words of God?
-another view: we know these are the words of God, but why do we believe that they are?
1. There’s a spiritual component.
-You see it here when we Paul thanks God. When Paul thanks God, he thanks God that the Thessalonians believe that the word of God is the word of God. Why does he do that? Because our belief that we have here is that the word of God is at one level is a spiritual issue that God has to show us that these are his words. He enables us to hear. We find out in scripture that the Holy Spirit of God superintends this process.
-2 Timothy says that all scripture is ‘God breathed.’ That he breathes through human agents to give us his very thoughts.
-What we find out in this text is that God didn’t just inspire the very writings of the old and new testament, that the Holy Spirit inspired the delivery of this writing to people.
-It says in 1 Thessalonians 1:5 “Our Gospel came to you not only in words but in power in the Holy Spirit.”
-God not only inspired the words, he inspired the presentation so that when the words were spoke to you it landed deeper then just hearing some guy talk.
-He was empowering the understanding.
-When someone says that they just understand these are the words of God because they just do, because God helps them understand, the people who don’t understand yet don’t like that, it sounds circular, that makes you feel very uncomfortable.
-Spiritual moments can sound séance-y and weird, its sort of emotional and vibe-y and you don’t like that.
-Though Paul will thank God for revealing to them that these are the words of God, Paul won’t argue that way.
2. Intellectual component.
-You received what you heard.
-The bible never presents spirituality and rationality at odds. The bible isn’t afraid of rationality, that’s one of the ways you discover the words of God, you use your mind engage it.
-Paul presents to them that the life of Christ is in accordance with the scriptures. And by that he meant the old testament. He gave them documentation of prophecies in the old testament talking about the life of Jesus. Like Micah 5:2, or Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, they give you details about Jesus’ life long before it happened.
-Thessalonians was written somewhere are 50 A.D. 20 years after the death of Christ.
-Paul says there are people still alive that traveled with Jesus, go ask them. This story is too early to be a legend.
-If you were writing a story about your god hero you wouldn’t put into it the things we have in the gospel.
-Women were the first witnesses at the crucifixion, and then, women’s testimonies were dismissible in court. If this were a made up story, that would have been counterproductive in that day.
-The gospel presentation that we give is too human to be legend.
-Its also too detailed in form. Modern fiction is an 18th century phenomenon. Ancient epics aren’t written with this amount of detail. Beowulf isn’t written like the gospels.
-C.S. Lewis says this, “I have been reading poems, romances, vision literature, legends and myths all my life, I know what they are like. I know none of them are like this. There are only 2 possible views, either this is reportage of what really happened, or else some unknown ancient writer without known predecessors or successors suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modernistic realistic narrative. The reader who does not see this has simply not learned how to read.”
-they are historical accounts of a guy who really lived, who really died, and who really rose.
3. There is a social component.
-The Thessalonians got to see the messenger. They watched Paul get beat and not stop presenting it. They watched him not take money and keep presenting it.
-People have died for bad causes all throughout human history. But someone willing to take a beating and die for something does make you take that message seriously.
-The social component alone isn’t enough to believe this, but when you hear that Paul was rational, that there’s a spiritual power to what he was doing, and that you watched his life and you saw that there is a sincerity to this man.
-Some of you resist this because the guy who presented the gospels to you in the first place doesn’t live it out. They might actually like Jesus if they got to know him, they just hate the guy who talked about him because of his hypocrisy.
-They see your life.
-People will buy what your saying by how you approach them with it, come soft.
4. There is an affective component
-This book is alive and it is at work in you.
-It knows you. The words of God cut through to you. It resounds with the human heart.
-That’s how you believe it.
-It fits with what I know of how the world works. Its so beautifully designed that someone had to design it.
-It fits with how people work. There is something so beautiful and glorious about us.
-It fits with our humanity, that there is something deeply broken in us. It tells us that you cant fix this deep brokenness yourself.
-In our hearts there is longing for a hero. In every movie there is a rescuer. That’s because God sent one.
-He presented to the world the perfections that we long for a human being to have. They are filled in Jesus.
-His penalty paid for what we know we are guilty of.
-C.S. Lewis said it this way. “If you walked up to a piano and saw sheet music then saw a little sheet of music on the ground, how would you know that that sheet on the ground fits into the sheets in front of you? You would pick that sheet up off the ground and place it among the others and you would just play. And if those notes sync up with the other notes and they all play together you know its part of that song.”
-How did God let me believe these words? He let me, it’s a spiritual miracle. This music plays.
-How could Shakespeare meet Hamlet? If he wrote himself into the play. God wrote himself in so we could meet him, and he inspired men to faithfully record the story.
Recognizing the Word of God
1 Thessalonians 2:13
Breakaway Ministries Video podcast
1 Thessalonians 2:13
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
-We need the words of God.
-Are we just random molecules bouncing around that at any moment can be tyrannized by the whims of unstable men? Or is there meaning and purpose to all this?
-We need a God to give us subjective answers to why bad things happen.
-We long for truth because there is such a thing as truth. We long for answers because there is such a thing as answers and we were meant to know them.
-We long for the transcendent because He exists, and we are made to know him.
-Pain serves to jostle us out of the mundane and remind us that these big questions are stirring in us and we need answers.
-The good news is that the God who is communicates with us.
-We are obviously communicative creatures, we like to talk to each other. That’s not random, we look like our Dad in this. We were made in the image of God and we long to communicate because we have a God and he communicates.
-What we have in our bible is not theology. Theology are mans thoughts about what God might be like. What we have in the bible is revelation that God has come to tell us what he is like.
-Paul is writing to the Thessalonians and he’s thanking God again, he says I thank God constantly for this, that when you heard the words of God from us you received them as not the words of men but as what they really are, that is the word of God.
-How did they know that? What about that presentation made them think that’s not the words of some philosopher, those are the very words of the God who created all things.
-How did they know that? And how can we know that?
-Some people say they were just so primitive back then and that when someone said these were the words of God that they just believed it. That’s not actually true.
-When Paul preached to the Greeks it challenged there world view, and it took them awhile to buy it.
-When the Thessalonians heard it and sat and struggled with it they see that what we have here really are the words of God.
-How do we know that we have the words of God?
-another view: we know these are the words of God, but why do we believe that they are?
1. There’s a spiritual component.
-You see it here when we Paul thanks God. When Paul thanks God, he thanks God that the Thessalonians believe that the word of God is the word of God. Why does he do that? Because our belief that we have here is that the word of God is at one level is a spiritual issue that God has to show us that these are his words. He enables us to hear. We find out in scripture that the Holy Spirit of God superintends this process.
-2 Timothy says that all scripture is ‘God breathed.’ That he breathes through human agents to give us his very thoughts.
-What we find out in this text is that God didn’t just inspire the very writings of the old and new testament, that the Holy Spirit inspired the delivery of this writing to people.
-It says in 1 Thessalonians 1:5 “Our Gospel came to you not only in words but in power in the Holy Spirit.”
-God not only inspired the words, he inspired the presentation so that when the words were spoke to you it landed deeper then just hearing some guy talk.
-He was empowering the understanding.
-When someone says that they just understand these are the words of God because they just do, because God helps them understand, the people who don’t understand yet don’t like that, it sounds circular, that makes you feel very uncomfortable.
-Spiritual moments can sound séance-y and weird, its sort of emotional and vibe-y and you don’t like that.
-Though Paul will thank God for revealing to them that these are the words of God, Paul won’t argue that way.
2. Intellectual component.
-You received what you heard.
-The bible never presents spirituality and rationality at odds. The bible isn’t afraid of rationality, that’s one of the ways you discover the words of God, you use your mind engage it.
-Paul presents to them that the life of Christ is in accordance with the scriptures. And by that he meant the old testament. He gave them documentation of prophecies in the old testament talking about the life of Jesus. Like Micah 5:2, or Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, they give you details about Jesus’ life long before it happened.
-Thessalonians was written somewhere are 50 A.D. 20 years after the death of Christ.
-Paul says there are people still alive that traveled with Jesus, go ask them. This story is too early to be a legend.
-If you were writing a story about your god hero you wouldn’t put into it the things we have in the gospel.
-Women were the first witnesses at the crucifixion, and then, women’s testimonies were dismissible in court. If this were a made up story, that would have been counterproductive in that day.
-The gospel presentation that we give is too human to be legend.
-Its also too detailed in form. Modern fiction is an 18th century phenomenon. Ancient epics aren’t written with this amount of detail. Beowulf isn’t written like the gospels.
-C.S. Lewis says this, “I have been reading poems, romances, vision literature, legends and myths all my life, I know what they are like. I know none of them are like this. There are only 2 possible views, either this is reportage of what really happened, or else some unknown ancient writer without known predecessors or successors suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modernistic realistic narrative. The reader who does not see this has simply not learned how to read.”
-they are historical accounts of a guy who really lived, who really died, and who really rose.
3. There is a social component.
-The Thessalonians got to see the messenger. They watched Paul get beat and not stop presenting it. They watched him not take money and keep presenting it.
-People have died for bad causes all throughout human history. But someone willing to take a beating and die for something does make you take that message seriously.
-The social component alone isn’t enough to believe this, but when you hear that Paul was rational, that there’s a spiritual power to what he was doing, and that you watched his life and you saw that there is a sincerity to this man.
-Some of you resist this because the guy who presented the gospels to you in the first place doesn’t live it out. They might actually like Jesus if they got to know him, they just hate the guy who talked about him because of his hypocrisy.
-They see your life.
-People will buy what your saying by how you approach them with it, come soft.
4. There is an affective component
-This book is alive and it is at work in you.
-It knows you. The words of God cut through to you. It resounds with the human heart.
-That’s how you believe it.
-It fits with what I know of how the world works. Its so beautifully designed that someone had to design it.
-It fits with how people work. There is something so beautiful and glorious about us.
-It fits with our humanity, that there is something deeply broken in us. It tells us that you cant fix this deep brokenness yourself.
-In our hearts there is longing for a hero. In every movie there is a rescuer. That’s because God sent one.
-He presented to the world the perfections that we long for a human being to have. They are filled in Jesus.
-His penalty paid for what we know we are guilty of.
-C.S. Lewis said it this way. “If you walked up to a piano and saw sheet music then saw a little sheet of music on the ground, how would you know that that sheet on the ground fits into the sheets in front of you? You would pick that sheet up off the ground and place it among the others and you would just play. And if those notes sync up with the other notes and they all play together you know its part of that song.”
-How did God let me believe these words? He let me, it’s a spiritual miracle. This music plays.
-How could Shakespeare meet Hamlet? If he wrote himself into the play. God wrote himself in so we could meet him, and he inspired men to faithfully record the story.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Joy In Pain.
This podcast is about seeing the joy in our trials, how God uses trials to provide us with wisdom and teach us to cling to Him in hard times, not worldly things. We all know all about trials. Pain is the only common denominator we all have in this world. Not all of us experience joy, but we all experience pain. We rage against pain because we know that they're is a place where pain doesn't exist, and that's one of the joys of it.
The dude who posts the C.S. Lewis quotes on twitter is having issues today or something because it hasn't been posted yet, so i'll put it up later when he gets around to it.
Joy In Pain, Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast ( this one is from 2009 so its pretty far down the list if you decide to go listen to this...which you should, cause its good for you. )
Breakaway Ministries.
Joy In Pain
James 1:1-12
I'm going to post the scripture used before my notes, just because its short, and so you have it.
[1:1] James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
[2] Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, [3] for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
[5] If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [6] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. [7] For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [8] he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
[9] Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, [10] and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. [11] For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
[12] Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
(James 1:1-12 ESV)
-Trials are inevitable, and Christians aren’t exempt from them. When trials come we shouldn’t only expect them, we should rejoice in them.
-Who would think trials should be rejoiced?
1. Crazy people…like the ones who have lost touch with reality…the really out there ones who think pain is fun.
2. People who know something. People who know that locked into that trial is something good. They rejoice not just in the future but even in the trial.
Example: Obi Wan Kenobi. “Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possible imagine.” Getting hit by a light saber probably wasn’t fun, but when its happenings he’s just really chill. Why? Because he knows it will produce something beautiful in the future. He’s gonna get to be blue and be anywhere he wants to at any time.
A little more down to earth example: lifting weights. You put your muscles in pain, but you know it will produce the result you want. Even in the midst of the pain you are rejoice because you know it will produce something great.
-So which is he calling us to be? The crazies, Or the people who rejoice in their trials?
-James 1:3 “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
-Every trial has the potential to teach us steadfastness (perseverance, endurance)
-Perseverance: the ability to not only handle stress, but to thrive under it.
-James 1:4 “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. “
-Locked within every trial is potential. Potential not only for endurance, but for maturity, completion, not lacking in anything. To fill you up when your empty and make you whole.
-We idolize people who go through trials and because of them they are better. People with tough skin and soft hearts. They’ve been made mature through pain. And that’s what he says will happen. Pain produces maturity.
-How does some pain make you mature?
- “I got my heart broken and im not better, im bitter. I’m hurting.” How do you get out of that darkness?
- Family troubles that wont seem to go away, and they make you doubt God.
-Verse 5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
-If you lack wisdom, ask God and he’ll give it to you.
-Pain will give you perseverance which will make you mature, i.e., wise.
-Wisdom: an understanding of how reality works and the ability to navigate it well.
-Its very different than knowledge. Knowledge lacks the ability to navigate.
-Wisdom isn’t something we’re born with. Wisdom is something we have to learn and be given. God gives it to us through pain.
-All children are born with one of three specific temperaments. Anxious, Aggressive, or Philosophical.
Anxious: will thrive in dangerous situations because they naturally will flee, but in calm or social situations they will usually fail.
Aggressive: will thrive in moderately dangerous situation, because they “take the bull by the horns” so to speak. But put them in a highly dangerous situation? They’ll have more fun, but probably wont live long.
Philosophical: flourishes most in very safe situations. They don’t think anything is a threat. Put them in any danger and they’re out of luck.
-No temperament is wise, because wisdom is finding the right response, the appropriate response, to a given situation.
-No one is born wise because we have a natural default, run or attack. We are born habitually doing one thing.
-Natural question for a parent: How do I balance my kid out? Put your child in a situation where they’re natural response is the wrong one, then teach them the right one, there they will learn wisdom.
-God is a good dad. He puts you in overwhelming situations and makes you learn how do handle it.
-Pain forces us to seek wisdom.
-Wisdom gives us 3 things:
1. In the face of pain, wisdom will keep you from putting your hope in the things that fade. (Verses 10-11)
-the reality is when nothing is going wrong, you will start chasing after and reveling in things that will fade. You will get a skewed view of reality.
2.Wisdom teaches us that pain is real, but its temporary. We can rejoice in it because we know its not going to last. (Verse 9) There is life beyond pain. (Verse 12)
-Normally when people go through a large amount of pain, they lose they’re faith in God. How can you tell me that suffering now teaches me that there is a world beyond where there is no suffering?
-Pascal said it this way: “You never see anyone complaining that they lack a second mouth.” Why not? Because its not even an option. Its not reality. Well why do we rage against suffering? Why do we rage against pain when that’s all this world knows? Not everyone gets joy, everyone gets pain. So how can we look at pain and say its wrong? That it shouldn’t be this way? Why do people hate death when its inevitable for everyone? The death rate is still one death per person right??
-We rage against pain because every time we experience it there is a small voice inside us that says it shouldn’t be this way. Because we can conceive of a place where its not this way. It wasn’t always like this and it wont always be like this.
-Its funny when atheists rage against pain, because the very fact that you are raging against pain proves there is a God. You are proving that this pain is an anomaly and that there is a world without it.
-Pain purifies the mind.
3. Wisdom turns your head upward. You put your hope in God. (Verse 12)
-You don’t understand your pain, but God does. God took pain and suffering and made life out of it through Jesus. He will take your pain and make it into life if you let him. That’s the joy that pain will give you.
The dude who posts the C.S. Lewis quotes on twitter is having issues today or something because it hasn't been posted yet, so i'll put it up later when he gets around to it.
Joy In Pain, Breakaway Ministries Video Podcast ( this one is from 2009 so its pretty far down the list if you decide to go listen to this...which you should, cause its good for you. )
Breakaway Ministries.
Joy In Pain
James 1:1-12
I'm going to post the scripture used before my notes, just because its short, and so you have it.
[1:1] James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
[2] Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, [3] for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
[5] If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [6] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. [7] For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [8] he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
[9] Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, [10] and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. [11] For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
[12] Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
(James 1:1-12 ESV)
-Trials are inevitable, and Christians aren’t exempt from them. When trials come we shouldn’t only expect them, we should rejoice in them.
-Who would think trials should be rejoiced?
1. Crazy people…like the ones who have lost touch with reality…the really out there ones who think pain is fun.
2. People who know something. People who know that locked into that trial is something good. They rejoice not just in the future but even in the trial.
Example: Obi Wan Kenobi. “Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possible imagine.” Getting hit by a light saber probably wasn’t fun, but when its happenings he’s just really chill. Why? Because he knows it will produce something beautiful in the future. He’s gonna get to be blue and be anywhere he wants to at any time.
A little more down to earth example: lifting weights. You put your muscles in pain, but you know it will produce the result you want. Even in the midst of the pain you are rejoice because you know it will produce something great.
-So which is he calling us to be? The crazies, Or the people who rejoice in their trials?
-James 1:3 “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
-Every trial has the potential to teach us steadfastness (perseverance, endurance)
-Perseverance: the ability to not only handle stress, but to thrive under it.
-James 1:4 “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. “
-Locked within every trial is potential. Potential not only for endurance, but for maturity, completion, not lacking in anything. To fill you up when your empty and make you whole.
-We idolize people who go through trials and because of them they are better. People with tough skin and soft hearts. They’ve been made mature through pain. And that’s what he says will happen. Pain produces maturity.
-How does some pain make you mature?
- “I got my heart broken and im not better, im bitter. I’m hurting.” How do you get out of that darkness?
- Family troubles that wont seem to go away, and they make you doubt God.
-Verse 5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
-If you lack wisdom, ask God and he’ll give it to you.
-Pain will give you perseverance which will make you mature, i.e., wise.
-Wisdom: an understanding of how reality works and the ability to navigate it well.
-Its very different than knowledge. Knowledge lacks the ability to navigate.
-Wisdom isn’t something we’re born with. Wisdom is something we have to learn and be given. God gives it to us through pain.
-All children are born with one of three specific temperaments. Anxious, Aggressive, or Philosophical.
Anxious: will thrive in dangerous situations because they naturally will flee, but in calm or social situations they will usually fail.
Aggressive: will thrive in moderately dangerous situation, because they “take the bull by the horns” so to speak. But put them in a highly dangerous situation? They’ll have more fun, but probably wont live long.
Philosophical: flourishes most in very safe situations. They don’t think anything is a threat. Put them in any danger and they’re out of luck.
-No temperament is wise, because wisdom is finding the right response, the appropriate response, to a given situation.
-No one is born wise because we have a natural default, run or attack. We are born habitually doing one thing.
-Natural question for a parent: How do I balance my kid out? Put your child in a situation where they’re natural response is the wrong one, then teach them the right one, there they will learn wisdom.
-God is a good dad. He puts you in overwhelming situations and makes you learn how do handle it.
-Pain forces us to seek wisdom.
-Wisdom gives us 3 things:
1. In the face of pain, wisdom will keep you from putting your hope in the things that fade. (Verses 10-11)
-the reality is when nothing is going wrong, you will start chasing after and reveling in things that will fade. You will get a skewed view of reality.
2.Wisdom teaches us that pain is real, but its temporary. We can rejoice in it because we know its not going to last. (Verse 9) There is life beyond pain. (Verse 12)
-Normally when people go through a large amount of pain, they lose they’re faith in God. How can you tell me that suffering now teaches me that there is a world beyond where there is no suffering?
-Pascal said it this way: “You never see anyone complaining that they lack a second mouth.” Why not? Because its not even an option. Its not reality. Well why do we rage against suffering? Why do we rage against pain when that’s all this world knows? Not everyone gets joy, everyone gets pain. So how can we look at pain and say its wrong? That it shouldn’t be this way? Why do people hate death when its inevitable for everyone? The death rate is still one death per person right??
-We rage against pain because every time we experience it there is a small voice inside us that says it shouldn’t be this way. Because we can conceive of a place where its not this way. It wasn’t always like this and it wont always be like this.
-Its funny when atheists rage against pain, because the very fact that you are raging against pain proves there is a God. You are proving that this pain is an anomaly and that there is a world without it.
-Pain purifies the mind.
3. Wisdom turns your head upward. You put your hope in God. (Verse 12)
-You don’t understand your pain, but God does. God took pain and suffering and made life out of it through Jesus. He will take your pain and make it into life if you let him. That’s the joy that pain will give you.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
CS Lewis Daily
It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men-CSLewis
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Speak Up. Part 1
Passion City Church podcast
Speak Up: Part 1
Louie Giglio
So i didnt get to type notes today because i have terrible tendinitis in my left hand. I've kind of overused my hand today working and washing my car so its all swollen and stuff. Every time I would start typing my mom would yell at me to rest my hand...so i copied and pasted the scripture passages from the online version of my study bible. Its saturday so you might have time to listen to the podcast, i would encourage it because the last few things i added on here arent going to make much sense to you if you dont.
First things first, the CS Lewis daily.
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less."-CS Lewis.
James 3
[Taming the Tongue]
[3:1] Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. [2] For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. [3] If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. [4] Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. [5] So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! [6] And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. [7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, [8] but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. [10] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. [11] Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? [12] Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
[Wisdom from Above]
[13] Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. [14] But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. [15] This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. [16] For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. [17] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. [18] And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
2 Corinthians 4
[The Light of the Gospel]
[4:1] Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. [2] But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. [3] And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. [4] In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. [5] For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. [6] For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[Treasure in Jars of Clay]
[7] But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. [8] We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [10] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. [11] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. [12] So death is at work in us, but life in you.
[13] Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, [14] knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. [15] For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
[16] So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. [17] For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, [18] as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4 ESV)
Psalm 50:10
[10] For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
James 1:19-20
[19] Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; [20] for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
We are motivated by what we're most afraid of. What are you afraid of? Dig into this scripture and find your 1000 hills. Start speaking to that fear, Speak up, above, and over it. Speak up in faith. Run the risk of saying that God has a plan for me this year.
Speak Up: Part 1
Louie Giglio
So i didnt get to type notes today because i have terrible tendinitis in my left hand. I've kind of overused my hand today working and washing my car so its all swollen and stuff. Every time I would start typing my mom would yell at me to rest my hand...so i copied and pasted the scripture passages from the online version of my study bible. Its saturday so you might have time to listen to the podcast, i would encourage it because the last few things i added on here arent going to make much sense to you if you dont.
First things first, the CS Lewis daily.
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less."-CS Lewis.
James 3
[Taming the Tongue]
[3:1] Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. [2] For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. [3] If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. [4] Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. [5] So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! [6] And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. [7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, [8] but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. [10] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. [11] Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? [12] Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
[Wisdom from Above]
[13] Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. [14] But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. [15] This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. [16] For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. [17] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. [18] And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
2 Corinthians 4
[The Light of the Gospel]
[4:1] Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. [2] But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. [3] And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. [4] In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. [5] For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. [6] For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[Treasure in Jars of Clay]
[7] But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. [8] We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [10] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. [11] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. [12] So death is at work in us, but life in you.
[13] Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, [14] knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. [15] For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
[16] So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. [17] For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, [18] as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4 ESV)
Psalm 50:10
[10] For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
James 1:19-20
[19] Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; [20] for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
We are motivated by what we're most afraid of. What are you afraid of? Dig into this scripture and find your 1000 hills. Start speaking to that fear, Speak up, above, and over it. Speak up in faith. Run the risk of saying that God has a plan for me this year.
Friday, March 11, 2011
He is Better
This was the perfect podcast for me to listen to as I start diving into the Word very deeply over these 40 days. It answered a lot of questions I've had and it calmed a lot of fears I've had as well. If you arent sure about Jesus, go find answers, because a maybe always defaults to a no, and I don't want that for you.
He is Better. Breakaway Ministries video podcast.
He Is Better
Mark 8:27-9:1
-We’ve come to the “defining the relationship” moment with Jesus.
-In this section were going to get his Identity and his Activity (who he is and what he came to do) and what that means for our destiny.
-Jesus takes his disciples to Caesarea Philippi, the furthest place away from Jerusalem while still being in Jewish territory. He separates them from everyone and this is where he has a conversation with them about himself.
-He asks them, “Who do the people here think I am?” They told them some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say one of the prophets. They’re saying that he’s the ‘highest prophet’.
-And that’s still the predominant answer we get today. People say he was just a very powerful teacher, a very powerful man. Jesus is a really neat guy. Go check out the bestsellers in the Christian section at Barnes and Noble, all those authors say the same thing.
-In verse 29, Jesus asks them, “who do you say that I am?” Peter speaks up, “You are the Christ”
-Jesus strictly charges them to tell no one about him. He does this because at this moment, his disciples have the right word (Christ), but the wrong content. The wrong definition of what the Messiah is about.
-His activity (What the Christ is here to do.) verse 31
-It says Jesus began to teach them…
-Meaning he has never talked to them about this before. This is the first they are hearing about what he’s here to do. Why now? Because greater commitment becomes greater intimacy.
-He says to them, “the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected, and be killed…”
-Peter violently rejects this and he basically starts giving Jesus and pep talk. ‘Now you need to stop talking like that, its not going to happen….’
-Jesus uses the term ‘Son of Man’ which confuses a lot of people because that was the term used for prophets because they literally were a son of a man, but when Jesus uses it here, he is referring back to Daniel 7: far off in the future I see God raising up a man who steps before him and gives him everything to rule over for all time. The Messiah.
-’The Son of Man must suffer’ was not something they were prepared to hear. ‘Son of Man’ and ‘suffer’ aren’t supposed to go together.
-God has ordained that his Messiah MUST die.
-Why? Naturally as humans, when someone wrongs us or takes something from us, the first thought is either they pay or I do. The other option is to forgive them. Forgiveness is so difficult because when we forgive we absorb the payment. God looks at all the horrible things we have done. The hurtful things we have said to other people with the mouth he gave us, the way we use the hands he gave us to pursue selfishness instead of helping those in pain, and he looks at how much we have hurt each other as an incurring of debt. You look at the dignity of a Holy God that we have dismissed and you see all this debt in the universe and a Holy God has to say ‘someone will pay’. Justice demands it. Someone has to pay, God says you don’t have to, my son will. It is necessary that he die for you. Jesus says I’m going to be killed in the most horrendous way because in the shedding of my blood is the forgiveness of sins. And God’s solution of our sins is a suffering Savior.
-All this is new to the disciples. He’s never been this plain with them before. He’s told this them in analogies like ’the bridegroom will be cut off’ or ’the bread must be broken’. Now he looks at them and tells them he’s going to be killed and be buried and not stay dead.
-When Peter starts to freak out and rebuke Jesus, Jesus says to him “ Get behind me, Satan!” Any conception of the plan of God without suffering is satanic.
-Jesus then calls the crowds to come. (Verse 34) “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me…”
-Denying yourself means denying that part of you that pursues whatever you want whenever you want it and whatever makes you happy. That part of you that makes decisions about what would be good for you. Kill it. Taking up your cross isn’t a metaphor for difficulty, a cross was a place where you die! It wasn’t just a place of murder it was a place of shame. The Romans would make you carry the cross beam through the busiest streets in town where people will mock you and shame you. He says if you wanna go with me then you can’t do whatever you wanna do anymore. You will you lose friends and influence and it will be hard.
-Not the greatest evangelism is it? Walk with Christ and lose everything and suffer? Why do that for him?
-The benefits outweigh the cost.
-Worldly things won’t fill your soul.
-Turn your back on the world you will lose everything, but you will gain.
-The Gospel will give you the peace you can’t find anywhere else. It will satisfy your soul.
-There are no victims in the Kingdom.
- “Truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and the Gospels sake but that he will not receive a hundred times a much now in the present age houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life.”
-When you choose to follow Christ your social circle wont come with you, but there are brothers and sisters waiting for you. He’s better.
-Verse 38. “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” People don’t like that verse. But guys, that verse isn’t unfair. When you get married and your at the alter and the “for better or for worse” part come up do you say, whoa, hold on, im not into you that much?
-If you choose this path you will find yourself alone, but in the end, God is worth it.
There are 3 responses to a message like this.
1. I think Jesus is just a man, just a spiritual guy. If you think that you need to know your wrong, and he doesn’t want to be thought of that way. He says im the Son of Man coming of the clouds with the angels. That’s how he presented himself. Good teachers don’t talk like that. He’s not like Muhammad or Gandhi. People who talk like that are either crazy, or they mean it. So you need to go on a journey to figure out who this guy is.
2. I believe he’s the Christ, I believe he’s the Son of God. If that’s you, there will be a path of suffering for you and you need to know that and don’t feel like a victim when it comes. You will lose friends. You may have to say no to a job because if will compromise your morals. You may have to leverage your finances for the Kingdom. You may have this picture of success, God says that picture is not on my road. You need to be willing to let it go. Walk with him. When it hurts you trust him, and whatever you give up for him you will get back a hundred fold. He promises you that. Cling to him.
3. I don’t know. I really don’t know. This conversation he has with the disciples isn’t date one. He’s not asking them to marry him on date one. Jesus isn’t asking you to sell everything and suffer with him on date one. But if your sitting here saying I don’t know, he wants you to go on a journey with him. He took the disciples on a journey with him so they could see and know him. Don’t say you have questions then not seek answers. Go find someone to answer your questions, find a church, or someone who knows what they’re talking about. Go on a journey because this guy is important. Heaven and hell are in the balance. \
There are 3 responses but only 2 camps.
-Yes, No, and maybe. But a maybe almost always defaults to a no. If you say maybe, go on a journey and get your answers. If you don’t, when its all over a maybe is a no. And I don’t want that for you.
The Son of Man came to take your debt for you, and when you walk with him you don’t lose your life, you find him.
“I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun: not only because I see it, but by it I see everything else”-CS Lewis.
He is Better. Breakaway Ministries video podcast.
He Is Better
Mark 8:27-9:1
-We’ve come to the “defining the relationship” moment with Jesus.
-In this section were going to get his Identity and his Activity (who he is and what he came to do) and what that means for our destiny.
-Jesus takes his disciples to Caesarea Philippi, the furthest place away from Jerusalem while still being in Jewish territory. He separates them from everyone and this is where he has a conversation with them about himself.
-He asks them, “Who do the people here think I am?” They told them some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say one of the prophets. They’re saying that he’s the ‘highest prophet’.
-And that’s still the predominant answer we get today. People say he was just a very powerful teacher, a very powerful man. Jesus is a really neat guy. Go check out the bestsellers in the Christian section at Barnes and Noble, all those authors say the same thing.
-In verse 29, Jesus asks them, “who do you say that I am?” Peter speaks up, “You are the Christ”
-Jesus strictly charges them to tell no one about him. He does this because at this moment, his disciples have the right word (Christ), but the wrong content. The wrong definition of what the Messiah is about.
-His activity (What the Christ is here to do.) verse 31
-It says Jesus began to teach them…
-Meaning he has never talked to them about this before. This is the first they are hearing about what he’s here to do. Why now? Because greater commitment becomes greater intimacy.
-He says to them, “the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected, and be killed…”
-Peter violently rejects this and he basically starts giving Jesus and pep talk. ‘Now you need to stop talking like that, its not going to happen….’
-Jesus uses the term ‘Son of Man’ which confuses a lot of people because that was the term used for prophets because they literally were a son of a man, but when Jesus uses it here, he is referring back to Daniel 7: far off in the future I see God raising up a man who steps before him and gives him everything to rule over for all time. The Messiah.
-’The Son of Man must suffer’ was not something they were prepared to hear. ‘Son of Man’ and ‘suffer’ aren’t supposed to go together.
-God has ordained that his Messiah MUST die.
-Why? Naturally as humans, when someone wrongs us or takes something from us, the first thought is either they pay or I do. The other option is to forgive them. Forgiveness is so difficult because when we forgive we absorb the payment. God looks at all the horrible things we have done. The hurtful things we have said to other people with the mouth he gave us, the way we use the hands he gave us to pursue selfishness instead of helping those in pain, and he looks at how much we have hurt each other as an incurring of debt. You look at the dignity of a Holy God that we have dismissed and you see all this debt in the universe and a Holy God has to say ‘someone will pay’. Justice demands it. Someone has to pay, God says you don’t have to, my son will. It is necessary that he die for you. Jesus says I’m going to be killed in the most horrendous way because in the shedding of my blood is the forgiveness of sins. And God’s solution of our sins is a suffering Savior.
-All this is new to the disciples. He’s never been this plain with them before. He’s told this them in analogies like ’the bridegroom will be cut off’ or ’the bread must be broken’. Now he looks at them and tells them he’s going to be killed and be buried and not stay dead.
-When Peter starts to freak out and rebuke Jesus, Jesus says to him “ Get behind me, Satan!” Any conception of the plan of God without suffering is satanic.
-Jesus then calls the crowds to come. (Verse 34) “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me…”
-Denying yourself means denying that part of you that pursues whatever you want whenever you want it and whatever makes you happy. That part of you that makes decisions about what would be good for you. Kill it. Taking up your cross isn’t a metaphor for difficulty, a cross was a place where you die! It wasn’t just a place of murder it was a place of shame. The Romans would make you carry the cross beam through the busiest streets in town where people will mock you and shame you. He says if you wanna go with me then you can’t do whatever you wanna do anymore. You will you lose friends and influence and it will be hard.
-Not the greatest evangelism is it? Walk with Christ and lose everything and suffer? Why do that for him?
-The benefits outweigh the cost.
-Worldly things won’t fill your soul.
-Turn your back on the world you will lose everything, but you will gain.
-The Gospel will give you the peace you can’t find anywhere else. It will satisfy your soul.
-There are no victims in the Kingdom.
- “Truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and the Gospels sake but that he will not receive a hundred times a much now in the present age houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life.”
-When you choose to follow Christ your social circle wont come with you, but there are brothers and sisters waiting for you. He’s better.
-Verse 38. “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” People don’t like that verse. But guys, that verse isn’t unfair. When you get married and your at the alter and the “for better or for worse” part come up do you say, whoa, hold on, im not into you that much?
-If you choose this path you will find yourself alone, but in the end, God is worth it.
There are 3 responses to a message like this.
1. I think Jesus is just a man, just a spiritual guy. If you think that you need to know your wrong, and he doesn’t want to be thought of that way. He says im the Son of Man coming of the clouds with the angels. That’s how he presented himself. Good teachers don’t talk like that. He’s not like Muhammad or Gandhi. People who talk like that are either crazy, or they mean it. So you need to go on a journey to figure out who this guy is.
2. I believe he’s the Christ, I believe he’s the Son of God. If that’s you, there will be a path of suffering for you and you need to know that and don’t feel like a victim when it comes. You will lose friends. You may have to say no to a job because if will compromise your morals. You may have to leverage your finances for the Kingdom. You may have this picture of success, God says that picture is not on my road. You need to be willing to let it go. Walk with him. When it hurts you trust him, and whatever you give up for him you will get back a hundred fold. He promises you that. Cling to him.
3. I don’t know. I really don’t know. This conversation he has with the disciples isn’t date one. He’s not asking them to marry him on date one. Jesus isn’t asking you to sell everything and suffer with him on date one. But if your sitting here saying I don’t know, he wants you to go on a journey with him. He took the disciples on a journey with him so they could see and know him. Don’t say you have questions then not seek answers. Go find someone to answer your questions, find a church, or someone who knows what they’re talking about. Go on a journey because this guy is important. Heaven and hell are in the balance. \
There are 3 responses but only 2 camps.
-Yes, No, and maybe. But a maybe almost always defaults to a no. If you say maybe, go on a journey and get your answers. If you don’t, when its all over a maybe is a no. And I don’t want that for you.
The Son of Man came to take your debt for you, and when you walk with him you don’t lose your life, you find him.
“I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun: not only because I see it, but by it I see everything else”-CS Lewis.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
There will still be CS Lewis quotes. :)
First blog after giving up facebook for Lent! Not having facebook isnt that bad...just a little boring. I feel very disconnected though. But dont worry folks, im having the CS Lewis quotes sent to my phone, so im technically not checking twitter, but im still getting the CSLewisDailys.
Picked up my computer today, so now i can get back on track with my podcasts. Im hoping to find time to listen to one a day.
So thats my plan. Ill post podcast notes as usual, and i'll add the CS Lewis daily too. :)
I also ask that you keep me in your prayers. These 40 days are are going to be tough trying to stay focused on keeping my eyes on God, but i have faith that I can do it. He's answered a lot of my prayers over the past couple of weeks, I've never been more sure of His love for me than i am now.
"Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it." -CS Lewis.
Picked up my computer today, so now i can get back on track with my podcasts. Im hoping to find time to listen to one a day.
So thats my plan. Ill post podcast notes as usual, and i'll add the CS Lewis daily too. :)
I also ask that you keep me in your prayers. These 40 days are are going to be tough trying to stay focused on keeping my eyes on God, but i have faith that I can do it. He's answered a lot of my prayers over the past couple of weeks, I've never been more sure of His love for me than i am now.
"Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it." -CS Lewis.
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