Sin & Orthodoxy Examined

These two videos are reminders of how we treat others sin and how we treat our own sin. They are profound statements but yet very easily understood.

DugDownDeep_Nelson.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

DugDownDeep_Shook.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

What is - "The Will Of God"

Lately "the will of God" and "Gods ultimate plan" concepts have been in my thoughts constantly, as seek for employment and fumble around clumsily in the dark, attempting to establish what profession I need to be in or "have been ordained to" so to speak.

I wonder if this way of thinking is a trap, I wonder how many opportunities I have missed, I wonder how useful I could have been to the master, how much time and talents have I buried in the ground? Time and talents that could have been very easily put use and be invested.

If I'm working for Christ I've made a poor use of company time. Wondering and pondering if I'm doing the job the boss wants me to do instead of doing the work - loving people, cultivating relationships, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry.

I wonder if this is bad theology? In scripture we very clearly see that God has plans for us.

But we also get the pictures of a light unto the path and just being called somewhere not knowing why or having all the specifics of how life will be lived there, or if he would have enough to sustain himself and his family(abram)

Often we only get to see the next step of faith, most times for me I don't even get to see the next step... This makes me think I need to be less focused on where my next step is and more on who I'm becoming in Christ, how I'm growing, where I'm plugging into the action already taking place, instead of "waiting for God's guiding" to help someone. I think we are (or at least I am called to be somebody who reacts. And reactions come from the center of who you are. If you are centered on Christ then you will react in a manner such as Christ would.

There are hurting people all around us we can love, and loving people was Gods command... We don't have to wait around for the nod from God, to love people.

For us to love people from who we are and we are at - I believe that is the ultimate will of God... So that none may perish

--------------

I continue to struggle with these thoughts however what is God's will for my life?

Loving Hitchhikers

In the two years that i have been able to experience the freedom of driving by myself i have had an uncanny knack for attracting people that need rides. Today was one of those days that this fact came in to play:

As i was sitting at a stop sign behind another car ready to make its merge onto route 13 just outside of delmar a truck had pulled out into the intersection. A man located on the median in between the north and southbound lanes tried semi-frantically to wave down the truck without success. He walks right across the southbound lane. The car in front of me pulls out and goes around him. The gentleman flags me down and i pull over to the shoulder as he has gained my attention. He sticks his head inside the rolled down passenger window and asks "are you headed into delmar" my reply was yes, and he asks for a ride i decide to give it to him. Up until this point i havent had a decent look at him and as i pull out he offers his hand for a hand shake as i begin to extend mine i give a good look to just who is in the passenger seat. Thats when i saw it- a teardrop(indicating he has killed) inked on his cheekbone just to the left of his eye. This immediately offset me and put me in fear. I decided to continue and pressed on past this fact though i kept it close in my thoughts as i began to put a sentence together. "where am i taking you to" i asked he said he was going to the cigarette store - which in my mind sparked a question in my mind "should i even be facilitating this?" But i said "ok." With my next choice of words i asked him if his car broke down, he then told me that he was going through a nasty divorce in which his truck which is in his ex-wife's name was driven off by her and now he doesnt have any transportation i carred on conversation for the duration of car ride which was all of maybe 3 minutes but seemed to be a lifetime by saying that i was sorry that this ordeal had happened to him.

We then arrived at his destination, and as he got out of the car he asked me "are you headed back to where you came from" and in an instant knowing he wanted a ride back i replied with a lie "no i'm not, sorry" he went on to thank me for the ride and he went on his way. As i sat at the gas station filling up i checked all of my belongings to make sure everything was there and it was.

After the whole ordeal was over and i was back on the road my thought process cleared up and i started talking to God saying "why did i lie to him." I began to ask God what kind of oppourtunities i had missed, i could have prayed for this man i could have dropped him back off at his place and invited him to church, but all because fear overtook me and i failed to trust God that he had it under control and amazing oppourtunity was missed.

I am so remorseful for telling that lie but what i am even more remorseful for is the fact that i could have told this man about Jesus today, instead i told him a lie and he (not to be morbid) could have very well died as he walked home with respect to the brevity of our lives. I was fully committed to being and unsafe christian for all of about 3 seconds.

What do we do with hitchhikers that want to go to destinations that arent something that Jesus would be about? How do we cope with the fear when these oppourtunities like this blindside us? Christians: How do we love hitch-hikers who are sometimes some of the people most willing to talk and hear what we have to say?

In desire of being an unsafe Christians its blown oppurtunities and sin like this that make me look at my own life and become sickened by it, i dont want to feel like this again...

The Withered Fig Tree

Mark 11:12-25
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they [1] went out of the city.
The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered." 22 And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received [2] it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." [3]

My thoughts on the withered fig tree :
Firstly, coming upon the parable and miracle of the withered fig tree great alarm can arise within our spirits and rightly so. There are many questions that are spurred by this story. Why was there foilage on the fig tree but no fruit? Why did Jesus curse the tree, if it was not the season for figs? Why is the portion about Jesus cleansing the temple interjected right in the middle of this story? How much power do our mouths hold? How much greater that power is when matched with faith?
The question of, foilage being on the tree out of season is not one that i can answer, but this is a big part of Spurgeon's explanation of the story. Why did Jesus curse the tree if it was not the season for figs? I believe that 2 Timothy 4 can provide some answers for us. Jesus expected fruit on this tree, i do not know why, but he did. My suggestion is because of the leafage. God asks us to be ready to preach the word in season and out of season, we are called to produce fruit all the time, when we feel like it and when we don't. As Christians we are called to live a life that looks good and is good. Merely having the outward appearance of being a Christian is not good enough! A good test for a Christian to gauge their growth is to see how you are doing with the fruits of the spirit on a daily basis -Galatians 5:22-23.
Spurgeons interpretation both reinforces my belief, and provides a new angle that i had not yet considered.

Here is a piece of a message preached by Charles Spurgeon:

The blighted fig tree was a singularly apt simile of the Jewish state. The nation had promised great things to God. When all the other nations were like trees without leaves, making no profession of allegiance to the true God, the Jewish nation was covered with the leafage of abundant religious profession. Scribes, pharisees, priests and elders of the people were all sticklers for the letter of the law, and boaster of being worshippers of the one God, and strict observers of all his laws. Their constant cry was, "The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these." "We have Abraham to our Father" was frequently on their lips. They were a fig tree in full leaf. But there was no fruit upon them; for the people were neither holy, nor just, nor true, nor faithful towards God, nor loving to their neighbor. The Jewish church was a mass of glittering profession, unsupported by spiritual life. Our Lord had looked into the temple, and had found the house of prayer to be a den of thieves. He condemned the Jewish church to remain a lifeless, fruitless thing; and it was so. The synagogue remained open; but its teaching became a dead form. Israel had no influence upon the age. The Jewish race became, for centuries, a withered tree: it had nothing but profession when Christ came, and that profession proved powerless to save even the holy city. Christ did not destroy the religious organization of the Jews: he left them as they were; but they withered away from the root, till the Roman came, and with the axes of his legions cleared away the fruitless trunk.
What a lesson is this to nations! Nations may make a profession, a loud profession, of religion, and yet may fail to exhibit that righteousness which exalteth a nation. Nations may be adorned with all the leafage of civilization, and art, and progress, and religion; but if there be no inner life of godliness, and no fruit unto righteousness, they will stand for a while, and then wither away.
What a lesson this is to churches! There have been churches which have stood prominent in numbers and in influence; but faith, and love, and holiness have not been maintained, and the Holy Ghost has left them to the vain show of a fruitless profession; and there stand those churches, with the trunk of organization, and widely-extended branches, but they are dead, and every year they become more and more decayed. Brethren, such churches we have even among Nonconformists at this hour. May it never be so with this church! We may have numbers of people coming to hear the Word, and a considerable body of men and women professing to be converted; but unless vital godliness is in their midst, what are congregations and churches? We might have a valued ministry, but what would this be without the Spirit of God? We might have large subscriptions, and many outward efforts; but what of these without the spirit of prayer, the spirit of faith, the spirit of grace and consecration? I dread lest we should ever come to be like a tree, precocious with a superlative profession, but yet worthless in the sight of the Lord, because the secret life of piety, and vital union to Christ, are gone. Better that the axe clear away every vestige of the tree than that it stand out against the sky an open lie, a mockery, a delusion.

via - http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/2107.htm

Closing thoughts -
This is something i am heavily considering in my life - where do i look the christian part but produce no fruit?
Lets not be the kind of tree that produces no fruit, one that our savior would be unsatisfied with.
Dont take my word for it - Read these scriptures yourself and develop your own - BIBLICAL VIEW

Nothing Satisfies

Desires are a human inclination. There are no way to escape desires, long as you are living you will have them. But we must be careful to guide our desires, because what we desire, we obsess over, and what we obsess we eventually will possess.

We have to be careful about what we let our heart and mind continually dwell on. Because eventually something will become of whatever it is that we are dwelling on. Brush up on – 2 Corinthians 10:5, and Colossians 2:8. It is important that we not fall into the Disney line of thinking – “just follow your heart”, for the reason that the heart is evil and deceitful mentioned as early as Genesis 6:5.

When we follow our hearts alone it takes us to places we didn’t necessarily initially imagine being.

The man’s heart who is stayed on the father will be kept in perfect peace -Isaiah 26:3

God/The Holy Spirit is a sustain-er and a comforter. Whatever your need he desires to fill it. He wants to be the one on whom you rely on, not people, things, positions, accomplishments, knowledge, or any other earthly thing. He is Holy and we must respect him as such and run to him with everything.

Nothing else will satisfy once you have been in his presence… So look no further to (insert other comfort here) – which will no longer satisfy. There is only one who can fill a God shaped hole and that is the one true living God!

False Doctrine & Judgement

Where is the line drawn between exposing falsehoods in the health/
wealth/prosperity gospel and uplifting those who preach it for the
faith that they encourage to come about? How does the church body
defeat false doctrine and become unified? The bible says to stay clear
of judgement, but Paul also is enraged when the church "so quickly
turned to another gospel." ezekiel 34:22 says that the lord judges
between sheep and sheep so judgement is not our place but the lords,
but at the same time we are called to eradicate false doctrine? A big
part of the problem is the inability to seperate the person from the
viewpoint. So the preachers that preach the health wealth prosperity
gospel are they themselves identify themselves with what they preach
so how do we destroy false ideas about God without judging people?
Please comment and give me your thoughts!

Do Not Deviate From God's Word

1 Kings 13
A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam

13:1 And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings. 2 And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’” 4 And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before. 7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8 And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

The Prophet's Disobedience

11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons [1] came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king. 12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it. 14 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16 And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, 17 for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’” 18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, 22 but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” 23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. 25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.” 27 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. 28 And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. 29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

33 After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. 34 And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.
__________________________________

Be careful that you do not deviate from the word the Lord has given to you, even if a credible person has "a word from the lord" you must compare it with what the Spirit of God says yourself in prayer and reading the word.

- Paul takes a crack at this in Galatians 1

No Other Gospel

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Knowing God vs. Serving God

I just had this come across my twitter feed, the tweet being authored by John Piper said this - "God's preference: Knowing him above serving him. "I desire knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6"

I'm not really sure thats what hosea is talking about in this passage. I'd like to hear what you guys think God is talking about in this passage, in comments or on facebook or email and so forth.

However, whether or not this scripture is being used properly under this context it does bring up an interesting topic. Have you ever heard the saying "God we desire not your hand, but your heart"? Could it be that God desires the same of us? Don't get me wrong James makes it very clear that actions will follow your beliefs(James 1:22-23).

Think about the concept of God desiring to be intimate with you more than you doing his kingdom work today.
-maybe that might just propel you to do better kingdom work today!

Christ's Aroma

Let me start off by asking you a question. How do you smell? I know
that this will be a fairly cliche post, and that you have heard this
all before but give the question some weight in your thoughts as you
read 2 Corinthians 2 --->

15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being
saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from
death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is
sufficient* for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many,
peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by
God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ

To those who proclaim Christ in a passionate like-manner, this post
will be a sweet fragrance as seen in the latter part of verse 16, it
will be as life to life.

To those who do not proclaim Christ as king or are not living as they
should this post will be likened to death or craziness(death unto death)

Consider the sincerity of your walk with Christ, are you really giving
every effort you can give to live in right relationship with God?

We are not to be peddlers of God's word - that is flippantly throwing
out half truths to try and bring people to the knowledge of Christ.
Rather we are to boldly proclaim his death and resurrection in full
truth holding nothing back and let Christ do the work on peoples hearts.

I now realize this post is a bit scatter-brained but, bring the stench
of death to those who are dying(they might just end up desiring life)
and be a sweet smelling fragrance to those that are full of life. Let
us be sincere in our walk with Christ - we aren't faking him out...

You are Christ's aroma are you representing that smell well?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Other Disciple That Night

I think we often have this oppinion of the situation that peter was in as being rather intimidating because he was alone when being asked if he was one of Jesus’ disciples. But here we see that the other disciple was known to the guests in that mock trial as being a disciple, so there it seems silly that he would fear admitting it because somebody was already clarifies as being a disciple and nothing bad happened to them.

But also what was this other disciple doing to encourage his brother? it seems that at least the first time the two disciples were together and when peter denied Jesus this other disciple said nothing

Whether this is the case or I am wrong: walk with those in your life towards Christ together, encouraging one another

John 18:15-18(esv) Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. 17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” 18 Now the servants* and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

How Do I: Love My Enemy?

A church sermon delivered this past sunday in tandem with my small
group really pressed this issue on my heart of just how it is that we
love our enemies. Who exactly are our enemies?

I wont pretend to know
the answers to those questions, but the conclusion that i have come to
is that often Christians decide that loving our enemies merely means
tolerating them.


I dont think that tolerating an enemy even comes within the same
areana as loving them by Jesus' definition.

how do i love my enemy is a big question i'm asking myself this week