11/7/07 - Life Journal - What's your Spiritual Age?

I am young in years,
and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to declare my opinion to you.
I said, 'Let days speak,
and many years teach wisdom.'
But it is the spirit in man,
the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.
It is not the old who are wise,
nor the aged who understand what is right.
Therefore I say, 'Listen to me;
let me also declare my opinion.'

Job 32:6

This young dude, Elihu, was hanging aroud these guys and biting his tongue. He didn't want to say anything, deferring to his elders until he couldn't take it anymore. He basically said, "Listen, I'm not as old in years as you guys but from my understanding wisdom is breathed into man from God, into those willing and listening to hear it and receive it. So basically, shut up for a second and let me speak my peace."

There are some really wise young men in the ranks of those leading the charge in Christianity and unfortunately the converse is also true. We have an awesome pastor at our church that is very wise in his theology and grasp of scripture in spite of his youth. Some people might have a problem with this and it's a shame if they won't give him a chance and hear him out before drawing any conclusions. He's ten years younger than me but he has ages more in knowledge since he has been living in the spirit longer and studying His word longer.

The other side of this issue is people like me. I was introduced to God and accepted Jesus into my life a mere 7 years ago. I'm a 36 year old infant, but that doesn't mean I should hide my opinions for fear of being scoffed at or belittled. The more time I'm spending with Him the more of His wisdom I'm acquiring and the more receptive I am to His teaching. Too many people take age or length of service into consideration without hearing what people have to say.

Father open my eyes to your Word, put blinders over my eyes to block out any prejudice's I may have and ready my mind to receive Your wisdom as you feel fit to give it to me.

Your Remind Me of Someone.........

From ASBO

11/6/07 - Life Journal - Abraham's Son

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Galations 3:27-29

After accepting Christ into our hearts we are all equal heirs in the Abrahamic Covenant. We are not bound by the law but freed with the promise. "In you (Abraham) all the nations shall be blessed". All the earthly trappings, our sex or our privilege because of what race or social status we were born into are nullified. As Paul uses the offspring of Abraham figuratively in Ch. 4, we were once born of the flesh, like Ishmael unto Hagar, but now we are reborn according to the promise like Isaac unto Sarah. "So brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman", Ch.4 Vs.31

OK, so what does that mean? The promise from God came first, then the law which showed that it is impossible for us to live up to the righteousness of God and we were enslaved by the law, then Jesus came as the fulfillment of the promise, freed us from our sins through faith, and we became equal sons of God. The irony here is that by "binding" ourselves to God is how we find true freedom. If I give myself completely to him, in turn I am no longer a slave to the temptations of the flesh.

Still a little murky.....hmm.......OK, how about this, Born dead. Slave to the flesh. Faith in Jesus as my Savior. Give myself completely. Free in Him.

Lord, I think I have the gist of this here, please clarifiy it in my soul.

Journals from the Blogosphere - Men on Mission

As you can see on the left sidebar I try to read as many online journallers as possilbe. I get some great insight from the way others see the same verses I'm reading. Here's one from Chris at "Men on Mission":

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares. . . . This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled which said: "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."
(Jn. 19:23,24)

Have you ever thought about the sad irony of that? Fighting over Jesus' clothes, when he was offering them forgiveness and life that is truly life! The God of heaven and earth is there before them in human form and all they are focused on is who gets to wear his suit. Somebody walked off wearing Jesus' outfit. But the clothes didn't give him the life that their original owner possessed, and while the clothes wore out, the life he would have given them is forever.

Is it just me, or do a lot of people today continue to "fight over Jesus' clothing" and miss the essence of his life and mission? All they seem to care about is the externals, the trappings, the way things look. They love to dress up "Christian," and their eyes never really turn upward to take in the Man himself. Why do you suppose that is? I used to be one of them. For me it was just a whole lot easier to argue over the clothing than to be confronted by the real heart of Jesus and what he was asking of me.

Jesus, clothe me in your deep, inner goodness and your grace, your compassion and your reckless love. Amen.

Amen, Subject Closed, Let's Move On......

Here it is, spelled out perfectly by Jason E. Robertson. (Now if we can figure out how to get the "truly reformed" in on this Christianity might be able to get some where)

"Evangelistic" is the adjective form of the noun "evangelist."
An "evangelistic" church preaches the gospel calling people to repentance.
An "evangelistic" church exhorts the gospel and calls people to a decision.
"Evangelistic" churches strive to be attract the lost that they may come, hear, and be converted.

"Missional" is simply the adjective form of the noun "missionary."
A "missional" Christian lives his/her life with an attitude of a missionary, going into a culture to bring them the gospel in the context of their culture. Just as Jesus was incarnational, becoming a man in order to redeem man, missional churches love their missional field (as Christ loved the world) and brings the light of the gospel into its darkness.
A "missional" church lives the gospel in her culture, in her society that people may come to faith in Christ.

Therefore a healthy church strives to be both "attractional" and "incarnational" in her ministry design.
"Incarnational" means that the church goes to where the people are and brings them them the gospel.
"Attractional" means that the church brings people into the church to join Christianity.

To be biblical/mature/comprehensive/balanced a church must be balanced in both evangelistic/attractional and missional/incarnational.


HT - FIDE-O

11/5/07 - Life Journal - The Word Received from Him

For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galations 1:12

By saying that the Gospel he preached was received through a revelation and not from man, Paul described God's work in him to open his heart and give him the wisdom necessary to fully comprehend. It all seems like a mystery when hearing the Word for the first time but by reading scripture and praying for understanding we too can receive the gift of revelation.

All the sermons and secondary books in the world can't replace personal time with the Father. This journal is the best thing I've ever done as far as digging into the Word and praying for clarity in what I'm reading.

Lord, light up your words for me so I can comprehend Your plan and see what it is I'm supposed to do.

To the Folks at Journey (and around the world).....Be Undignified

...show Him some love. Nobody is watching you or listening to you during worship except Him and He should be your only audience. Here's some wise words from Zimbabwe:

If you can walk,
You can dance.

If you can talk,
You can sing.

Go on now, sing out to Him! Knock down the walls of Jericho!



I will dance, I will sing
To be mad for my King
Nothing Lord is hindering
This passion in my soul

And I'll become
Even more undignified than this
Some may say it's foolishness

But I'll become
Even more undignified than this
Leave my pride by my side

La, la, la, la, la, HEY!
La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, HEY!
La, la, la, la, la

It's all for You my Lord!

HT for the saying goes to God's Politics

What? ...oh, OK...awesome...now I get it!

"This is going to sound funny," Timlin said. "But God blessed Jon Lester (pitcher that won the clinching game for the Red Sox) with cancer just to show a lot of people that you can overcome something that's so hard in your life you think, 'I'm not gonna make it.' He's going to be able to take his faith in God and the strength God gave him and tell a lot of other people a great story."

Awesome quote from Red Sox pitcher Mike Timlin on his teammates struggle and recovery. Now for a little name dropping, his wife Dawn was a great friend in high school and I was lucky enough to attend their wedding. I hope she's at our twentieth reunion (did I just say 20th?) next June. Since then I've been a Timlin fan, even though he pitched the clincher against my Phillies in 93 when they lost to the Blue Jays.

Thanks for the story - Tim Ellsworth

Disbelief!

Probably not where you thought I was going with that title. This is actually about our Lakeland High School Dreadnaughts football team. After squeezing past Ridge Community High in double OT last week to break the State record for consecutive victories, the Dreadnaughts lost Friday night to the Kissimmee Osceola Kowboys (so much for spelling, hey it's just a high school)25-21. Lakeland hadn't lost a game since losing in the first round of the playoffs to Hillsborough High in 2003! Hopefully this is a wake-up call for the boys as they start their bid for a FOURTH consecutive State title in 2 weeks. As for the title of this post, you could put the following picture next to it in the dictionary.


One thing I know is that their Assistant Coach and Team Chaplain George Williams will keep their heads on straight. He's an amazing man we had the privilege of hearing speak at Journey a few months back. He'll keep their eyes on the ultimate goal while coaching them on towards this temporal goal. Coach Williams got our congregation going that's for sure. You barely hear a peep out of 'em most Sundays but when he was there the air was filled with Amen's and Hallelujah's! Though a bit comical at the time, I loved it and pray that God fills our people to this point of overflowing praise more often!

Rebut Atheism in 5 Sentences or Less.........GO!

Certainly it is not obvious that the biblical God doesn’t exist. How could anybody establish the non-existence of God? Absolute negatives are notoriously hard to prove. You would need omniscience to know that there is no God anywhere in the universe. And, of course, if you were omniscient, then you would be God, and the contrary would be proven.

John Frame in Five Views on Apologetics

Thanks - TT

11/4/07 - Life Journal - Integrity is Integral

"As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
as long as my breath is in me,
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
my lips will not speak falsehood,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
Far be it from me to say that you are right;
till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

Job 27:2-6

Job seems to be coming to his senses a little here. He was starting to let his circumstance and "friends" steer him away from God but his perserverance is starting to show. Verse 5 (in bold) is an awesome line. He will not agree with his friend's "wisdom" and bear false witness against the Lord. It's an awesome example of his godly integrity. Holding true to his Father during his struggles.

Yet another portion of the Word that I should be reciting daily. It's way too easy to feel that God has given me into the hands of the enemy when I KNOW that this isn't even a resemblance of the truth. His plans for me are for a hope and a future, not suffering at the hands of Satan. If I can hold on to this truth I can overcome anything.

Integrity - what you do or say when noone else is around.

Lord breath Your integrity into me because I've seen mine and it isn't going to cut it.

11/3/07 - Life Journal - With Friends Like These....

Behold, even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
how much less man, who is a maggot,
and the son of man, who is a worm!"

Job 25:5,6

Unfortunately for Job this is a recurring theme but also a recurring theme in our own lives. His friends have let him down in his time of need as our friends and family will do on occasion, more than we would like actually. Not trying to be more perfected than anyone else, I admit I'm also one of those that isn't the best friend, husband or father when those around need me. There is only one that is there EVERY time we call and that is our Father in heaven. It is a sign of our sinful nature and our hardened hearts. Without His help it's always "look out for number one".

I especially need to work on this one. We just did a survey of our spiritual gifts at Journey and on a scale from 0 to 40 I notched an 11 for mercy. Did I say I had A LOT of work to do on this one? On the flip side I also need to realize that the one "person" I can always count on while in this world is my Father. If I keep my eyes on Him I can do anything or get through any valleys I find myself in.

(Note, the main theme for this when I started was going to be how people will constantly let you down. Funny how it turned out into a conviction of myself and how I'm guilty of the same thing.)

Lord, I offer up my heart to you. I pray for a miraculous softening so I can be someone that people will feel comfortable coming to in their time of need.

11/2/07 - Life Journal - I'm (trying to become) a Christian Hedonist!

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Mark 12:30

According to Jesus, this is the most important of all commandments. In Psalm 115:3, the psalmist records, "But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases." He who created everything and is above all does nothing unless it pleases him. What could he possibly want from us? To be absolutely in awe, completely joy-filled and to desire Him fervently. He created ..uh.. creation to unveil his majesty to us, so in return we could glorify Him and praise His name on earth. That's what He wants. It's a complete circle. His desire is for our complete happiness which in turn will transform into a complete desiring for Him. Our goals are the same!

In the words of John Piper, I want to be a "Christian Hedonist"! I don't want to be just happy in Him, I want to be totally ecstatic! He has given me this incredible life, in His wondrous creation and I can't take it for granted anymore. Life will take care of itself, He has assured us of that, and in return I have to give him my complete adoration.

Lord, let me be free from the shame introduced in the Garden so I can experience the unrestrained joy in You so that one day You can say that I am Your son, whom You love, and with me Your are well pleased.

Spirtual Infant

I've been a whining cry baby! There, I admit it. Before going on this planting journey I used to complain all the time about the "light weight" messages at my old church (I'm sorry, I was wrong, you know who you are) and how I wasn't being fed. My pride told me it was my spiritual maturity that was crying out for more when in reality I now see it was me in my infancy crying out because I wasn't using my brain to feed myself. Everything I needed was in the bible, thousands of great writings from Kingdom past and present and most importantly, communing with God.

One of the biggest blessings of Journey Church was being introduced to Wayne Cordeiro's formula for daily devotions. It opened up an entire world for me and have been feeding, no gorging myself ever since. Added to this, I usually have 2 to 3 books on the burner also. Right now one happens to be "Desiring God" by John Piper! Yes, more food!

One piece of advice I have is to set a side some time for fun brainless reading also or you'll blow a circuit. Lee Child has some incredible books. Another bit is to expand your reading outside the realm of theological study. I've learned reams of information with some great "historical fiction". Herman Wouk (must read The Hope, 1993, and The Glory, 1994) and Leon Uris (must read Exodus, 1958 and Trinity, 1976) are two of the masters of this genre. If you're looking for american history anything you pick up by Stephen Ambrose is a sure thing.

Anyway, back to the subject. As I am now becoming a self-feeder my next goal is to prepare myself to feed others. I'm starting out slowly using this blog. Hopefully someone is getting something out of my journal entries, but if not, it has been great practice for me as I move into spiritual adulthood.

Stages of Spiritual Maturation (thanks to Dave Ferguson)

SPIRITUAL INFANCY = Getting Fed.
SPIRITUAL ADOLESCENCE = Feeding Yourself
SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD = Feeding Others

Blood on the Book

What does an instruction manual on butchering animals have in common with the Bible? Read this post from Tim Challies.

Now you know!