Thoughts by Mitch

A Lament For ICT

2009-06-11T19:27:00.007-05:00

Her people are confused
Why do I feel pain and accompanied with unanswered question
Why do I hurting

She cries out a behalf of her inhabitance
Where is my justice
Why I am covered with blood on the innocent
Where is my hero
Where is the one who is supposed to recue me

She feels naked and alone
Why does not one person look at me
Why do people who past by look the other direction
Why am I so ugly to their eyes

Her beauty is covered up by death and destruction
Why do I feel dark
Like the life is being sucked out of me
Why do the children cry for the lost

Her people cry for help but yet everyone stand still
I have mothers bagging on the my streets
I have children who are hungry
I have men unemployed
I have my rivers and lakes flooded with tears of my people

She seeks for love and justice
Who will look upon me with favor
Who will see my beauty through my mud
Who will take me as their bride
Who will be my protector

Who will come and find her
Who will seek me out

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2009-01-20T14:44:00.000-06:00

The Good Dr. Martin Luther King said in his famous speech in Washington D.C., "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

How Biblically TRUE is that statement. Sometimes we all forget that Dr. King was a well trained Theologian. Dr. King received his Ph D in Systematic Theology from Boston University (a top University to study theology I might add) in 1955. Before he became an activist or a civil right leader he was first and always a pastor and a student of the Word of Christ Jesus.

Because of his biblical and theological studies, Dr. King already knew that his message is Christ's meesage the content of one's character or heart was out weighs the gender or the color of ones skin when it came to looking at a person’s value. This example is all over the four Gospels in the Bible. Jesus saw value in the people who society determined has 'sinners' or 'unworthy' for the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus restored to them their humanity and their place in the Kingdom that He was bringing forth. And on the other hand Jesus call out the people who consider themselves worthy of the kingdom. He referred to them as 'snakes' because of their lust for wealth and their hunger for power. Jesus offers ever man and woman a place is His Kingdom and Dr. King knew this message and saw and lived that injustice that was happening and saw that this message of Jesus and humanity needed to be proclaimed again.

So lets remember that Dr. King was echoing Christ when he spoke of the words "I have a Dream" because Dr. King was one in heart and mind with Christ Jesus. He understood that first; we are all under the cross of Christ no matter the color of one’s skin. Dr. King viewed that all humanity is one race and one tribe with many unique parts and colors. Once we see how priceless the value of a human life is then maybe the world will change.

I have a DREAM that all will come to see how beautiful we all are
I have a DREAM that we will never forget the legacy of a one man’s stand for humanity
I have a DREAM that humanity will embrace its unique differences and see its value as PRICELESS!

Failure = Greatness

2008-03-19T11:12:00.000-05:00

(my response from a discussion on breathemovement.org)

We live in a culture that likes to discourage. We like to put people down or test people and see if they succeed or fail. But failing is not totally a bad thing.

Failing either helps us see that maybe this task, job, or idea is not for us...

Or

Failing can help us become better.

Failure, conflict, and stress can only do two things: build us stronger or tear us down.

It is our choice which road we go down.

Do we can let failure make us put our 'tail' in between our legs and go home and pout?

Or

In the face of failure do we roll up our sleeves and work out the problems and find ways to turn the failure into success?

One idea that has changed my thinking and life is that no one is going to hand success to me. People will help in the process, but I am the one that has to take the first step and bare the load if I want to succeed. If failure comes, I must look at and see what I should have done better and make the change.

Going to the video on the World Record Trampoline jumper, he probably has the scares and burses to show on the times when his stunt did not go the way that he wanted it to go.

In order to be great, you will have scares and burse.

So…

May you take the bumps and burses
May you see that that bumps and burses of failure only make you stronger
May you not turn around and go home when you fail but...
May you push forward and see the possibility of become GREAT!!

I AM LOVE

2008-03-04T14:20:00.000-06:00

Matthew 22:34-40 (NLT)
(34) But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducee with his reply, they met together to question him again. (35) One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: (36) “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
(37) Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (40) The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Last December I was in Wichita at my dad’s house. When I am at dad’s I watch TV because he has cable and I do not. So I was catching up with my ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel watching, but of course the day that I am there watching TV there was no soccer or relevant games on TV. So I am surfing the guide and I stumble on this TV show on MTV called: A Shot a LOVE with Tila Tequila. Now being absent from the MTV scene for a lone time, I had no idea how far MTV would take a ‘reality’ TV show. But the theme of this show is that 16 people, 8 men and 8 women, would have a shot at love with this beautiful Asian woman.

After watching this show and how ridicules it was seeing how MTV displays love by people fighting to be in a relationship with this one woman. I wanted to know what did Tila Tequila thought of Love. I found this quote on her myspace:

"In my life I have seen it all. If God came down and granted me one wish, I would wish to find happiness and hold on to it forever and take it with me to my grave. All the money in the world, all the glitz and glamour of fame, could never amount to the joy that I feel when I am happy. I would give it all up; money, fame, success, in a second for the only thing in life that truly matters to me.....love. People tend to throw that word around loosely and amidst all the hustles and bustles of life....we forget how beautiful love really is. Life is not worth living without love and happiness. Love heals all. Love is a mysterious and powerful force that is the key to all that is...and all that ever was. With that said.....I have a heart inside of me that is ready to explode. I have suppressed my desires to love for so long that I feel my heart cannot retain this anymore. I am no longer afraid to admit that I am a hopeless romantic and all I want to do is fall in love, and be in love for the rest of my dying days. I was given one life to live and that is exactly what I plan on doing......living my life to the fullest! Filling it with positive things and doing my best to heal those who are also lost and broken....just as I once was. There is always enough room for love and hope in everyone's life. You just have to have faith that it is there........you don't have to search for love when love has always been searching for you all this time. Love, Tila (From her myspace.com site)"

Interesting, Tila Tequila has a strong view of love and wants to be in love. Does this not sound like the cry of the culture? So what does Tila do? She goes to MTV and has them put on a show for 16 people to show that they love her most.

How messed up is this? Can anyone who goes on a reality TV, which is purposely set up for people to ‘find love’, really find true genuine love?

What is genuine love?

Jesus commands us to love God and love other. But is it the same kind of love that Tila and the rest of the culture are communicating?

How do we use love today?

What do you say ‘you love?’

I love Tacos?

I love Clothes?

I love Facebook?

I love School?

I love Lamp? (from the movie Anchorman)

And I love my wife?

What is love? To quote from Rob Bell, "I love my wife and I also love tacos?!?"

We are so confused about this word 'love' and we use it all the time! What is it? What does it look like? When are we suppose to use it? How is it suppose to feel? Is love sex?

1st John 4:7-21 gives us the answer of question: what is love?

1st John 4: 7-21 (NLT)
(7) Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. (8) But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
(9) God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. (10) This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
(11) Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. (12) No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
(13) And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. (14) Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. (15) All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. (16) We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. (17) And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the Day of Judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
(18) Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. (19) We love each other because he loved us first.
(20) If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? (21) And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.

If God is love, than what is love like?

There are many views of God how there, right?

One of my teachers told me (and the rest of the class too) the story of his daughter’s birth. His daughter was born with major health complications. Actually his daughter was never to be born and her living until she was two years old is a miracle to itself. But it was stressful and worrisome time of his life.

To try to find answers, my teacher went to a friend. He sat down to pore out his heart about this situation about his daughter to his friend. After my teacher was done poring out his heart, his friend said that he must have sinned for God to have done this to his baby girl. My teacher was shock after what his friends said and for a moment asks himself, “What did I do?”

But does a God that calls himself love do this?

Is there any love in a God that allows babies to have problems or even die before having a chance of living a full life?

Luckily for my teacher he has more than one friend.

The next friend called my teacher on the phone and said, “Man praise God!” My teacher answer answers, “Why?” His friend answers, “Because God has blessed you with a child that he knows that you will love and take extra care of and this child will stretch and bring you joy.”

To understand love we must understand who God is. God loves, cares, and forgives. That is who He is and cannot be outside of this.

But what does this look like?

John 21:15-17 (NLT)
(15) After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
(16) Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
(17) A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

To fully get the essence of what is going on here between Peter and Jesus, we must look at the original language that the Apostle John used to communicate this encounter. We all here know that the Bible was not written in English. The manuscripts that we have today, from which we get these precious words, were originally written in Kione Greek and Hebrew. This is important to note because words in different languages can have a different meaning than what it is translated in our Bibles.

For an example, lets take the word snow. We associate snow with every type of snow, but the Eskimos have 50 or more different words for all the different types of snowfalls. When translating from Eskimo a type of snowfall, just using the snow or snowing just does not cut. To properly translate this, it is a full description of what type of snowfall it is.

In the original manuscript there are two different words for love: agape and phileo

I. Let’s look at phileo.
The Greek word phileo is defined as to have a special interest in someone or something; with focus on close association, have affection for, like, or to consider someone a friend.

Today this is how we would use the word phileo:

I phileo ice cream.

I phileo soccer.

phileo is the first stage in a relationship.

This is where relationships today start and like to linger. phileo likes to be at the surface and goes no deeper. There is no comment in phileo and it more on a full name bases and not first name. It likes to come in the living room but not the kitchen. It rather go to a move instead on dinner. It stays on the surface and goes not further until it turns to… agape!

II. Now let’s look at agape.
The Greek word agape is defined as to have a warm regard for and interest in another, cherish, have affection for, or love.

But the best definition of agavph is found in 1st Corinthians 13.

1st Corinthians 13:1-8 (NLT)
(1) If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. (3) If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
(4) Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud (5) or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. (6) It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. (7) Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
(8) Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

Let’s change the word love here too…

God is patient and kind. God is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. God does not demand His own way. God is not irritable, and He keeps no record of being wronged. God does not rejoice about injustice but God rejoices whenever the true wins out. God never gives up; He never loses faith, He is always hopeful, and He endures through every circumstance. God will last forever.

Let’s the change the word love again too…

Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Jesus does not demand His own way. Jesus is not irritable, and He keeps no record of being wronged. Jesus does not rejoice about injustice but Jesus rejoices whenever the true wins out. Jesus never gives up; He never loses faith, He is always hopeful, and He endures through every circumstance. Jesus will last forever.

Now for the last I time, let change love to…

A Christian is patient and kind. A Christian is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. A Christian does not demand his or hers own way. A Christian is not irritable, and he or she keeps no record of being wronged. A Christian does not rejoice about injustice but he or she rejoices whenever the true wins out. A Christian never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. A Christian will last forever.

This is what Love looks like.

Love is deeper that like. Love wants all of you. It wants to deep inside of your soul and living there. Love can hurt and yet be the most wonderful thing you ever had. Love is more than sex because it hits you in the spot where you know that this person is all the things in 1st Corinthians 13.

Conclusion
Let’s look at John 21:15-17 and I am going to put in the right words.

John 21:15-17 (NLT)
(15) After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I like you.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
(16) Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I like you.”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
(17) A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you like me?”
Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I like you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

Peter finally got the picture later and communicated to the thousands.

But do we as a 21st centenary 1st world people get it?

We need to check the relationship with God, that is more important than every other relationship that we are in.

What is it… like or love when it comes to Jesus?

Because Jesus already loves you.

You will not understand love until you understand that God is love and all love comes from Him.

The Blessing
May you go and fall in love is Jesus.
May you realize than there is more to the word love that meets the eye.
May you treat your relationship just like the one you are in with Jesus.

I AM Testing (Judgment)

2008-01-31T13:47:00.000-06:00

There was this guy and his name was Job. He lived back in Abraham’s day. He was from the land of Uz, which is somewhere in between modern day Baghdad and Cairo, Egypt. But this guy Job was living the ‘High Life.’ He had smokin’ wife, seven sons, and three daughters. On top of a nice size family, Job also owned 7,000 sheep (which is like owning 7,000 sheep; go figure), 3,000 camels(which is like having owning 3,000 buses), 500 teams of oxen (which is like owning 500 trackers), and 500 female donkeys (which is like owns 500 Mercedes or any type of cool and expensive car) , and Job employed many servants.

Job had 500 female donkeys and that must mean he had it going on! Who does not want 500 female donkeys? For real, right?

Job was the Bill Gates of 4000 BC.

Now the story of Job starts with the angels of heaven coming to present them selves to God. And scripture says that Satan came in with angels.

When God sees Satan He says, “Where did you come from?”

Kind of funny that God would say this. It sounds like God was surprised to see Satan in His presences.

And Satan replies, “Oh, I have been just roaming about the earthly realms and trying to make trouble, you know the same old same old.”

(I am paraphrasing here; Satan and God probably do not have causal conversations like the one I am narrating now)

Then God says, “Oh, then you have seen my man Job. He is blameless – a man complete integrity. Job and I have an awesome relationship.”

Satan replies, “Yes of course, Job is rich and has every comfort. You have been protecting Job.”

Now, here is where the story gets interesting. This is where God decides to tests Job.

God tells Satan, “Go ahead and test, Job. Do whatever you want, just do not harm Job in anyway.”

This is what happens:

Job 1:13-22
(13) One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, (14) a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: “Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, (15) when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
(16) While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
(17) While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: “Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
(18) While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home. (19) Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
(20) Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. (21) He said,
“I came naked from my mother’s womb,
and I will be naked when I leave.
The Lord gave me what I had,
and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!”
(22) In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

Job does not curse God, instead he worships God.

Now, when the angels came again to present themselves to God, Satan came with them again.

When God see Satan He says again, “Where did you come from?” Again God was wondering how Satan got into heaven.

And Satan replies again, “Oh, I have been just roaming about the earthly realms and trying to make trouble, you know the same old same old.”

God says, “Have you seen my servant Job? He is the man! Even we you took everything away from, he still praise my name!”

But then Satan interjects, “But Job still has his health! If he was in physical pain, Job would reject you and curse your name!”

God grants this to Satan with the one exception, that Job’s life would spared.

And this is what happens:

Job 2:6-10
(6) “All right, do with him as you please,” the Lord said to Satan. “But spare his life.” (7) So Satan left the Lord’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.
(8) Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. (9) His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”
(10) But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.
(11) When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. (12) When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief. (13) Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.

Job does not curse God, instead he worships God.

Now, Job's friends come into the picture. We do not know how close of friends they are to Job, but they felt the need to come to his aid.

This ancient ritual of visiting and comforting the person in trouble is still actively practiced today. We also try to help the person find answers to justify what happen. This is where we and Job's friends get into trouble. Instead of looking to God for help, we try to figure it out for ourselves and when we explore this we tent to come up with wrong answers.

One of my professors at Friends told us the story when his daughter was born. She was born with some very dangerous birth effects. When my professor was talking to one of his friends, his friend asked him, "What sin did you commit that cause this tragedy in your life?"

This is the stupidest question to think and ask when things like this happen in a person's life. These were the type of questions that Job's friends were asking him.

This made God and angry. When God found out how faithful Job was, this is what God said and did:

Job 42:7-17
(7) After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has. (8) So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.” (9) So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
(10) When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! (11) Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.
(12) So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. (13) He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. (14) He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. (15) In all the land no women were as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers.
(16) Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. (17) Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life.

Job passes the test!

Conclusion

What do we, 21st Century 1st world people, learn from a guy that lives to close to 4000 to 6000 years ago?

I believe James gave us the answer in his letter.

James 1:2-4 (NLT)
(2) Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. (3) For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. (4) So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Crap will happen and when it happens, the testing of our have occurs.

The question is what are you doing to do when it happens?

Will you kill over and die or will you look to God and ask, “What should I do now?”

Will you praise God or will you curse Him?

The choice is yours?

What will you do?

The Blessing

May you be like Job and see God working in every situation.
May you understand that God wants the best for you.
May you understand that testing of your faith makes you stronger.
May you believe that in Christ, God's judgment is FORGIVENESS!

My Dip

2008-01-22T16:14:00.001-06:00

What is the Dip for you in your current pursuit?
(This questions comes from http://breathemovement.org/)

I feel like I am in a Dip right now. I am in a position that is not right for me at this moment. I feel like I am not giving my best or feel like the people around me are not giving their best and it is really frustrating.

I want something more! I want something that is real! I want to be around people who are real and just do not blow smoke up ass! These people that say, “Oh Mitch, you did a good job.” really make me feel that I have no better than a clown and not as a teacher. I want more than this! I want transformation in my life and others peoples lives. I want to be around people who care, not people who want religious entrainment!

I want authentic truth and I want to be around people who are distinctly authentic and not fake. I want to be around people who want to be the best of the best and help and see others become the best of the best in living life. I want to be around people who want to be like Jesus! Not just people who think that worshipping or talk about Him like some school subject or news story, but authentically and passionately want to be like Jesus!

I want to be a person who helps others!

I want to be a person who wants to know and peruse the truth!

I want to be a person who feeds others!

I want to be a person who is distinctly different and authentic, not what Hollywood tells me to be!

I want to be that person that God created me to be, distinctly like Him!

I want to stop being negative and being more positive and please for those who read and know me, help and keep me accountable to this because it is easy for me to be negative and that eats me alive and probably the eats the joy around the people around me.

My Prayer and Blessing

May we see that we need to be authentic
May we look for situations were we can bring out the best of ourselves
May we look not be negative but positive
May we seek to be a community that is distinctly authentic, that is creative in all aspects of life and that maximizes the potential that God has given us.
May we learn to love our creator and love the other created beings around us!

I AM DISTINCTION

2008-01-10T10:04:00.000-06:00

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It is like God saw empties and He want to make something out of nothing, and only He was the one who could do that. So it like God created an easel and canvas, which is the universe. Then He started speak His creation out loud and paint what He says. This divine painter created light and all the colors that present light and then the darkness and calls this movement in His master piece day and night.

Then He started to paint the color of the sky, the waters, earth, mountains, grass, flowers, and all kinds of details that make this place we live unique.

Then God decided to get really creative and painted stars in the sky. I went to the Trans Siberian Orchestra a month ago. During their concert the had a narrator that recited a poem about an angel and when he spoke about the night sky, the narrator snapped his finger and the whole back drop of the stage lit up like the night sky. It was awesome! This moment it the concert made me reflect on how beautiful it must have been when God created the night sky and just seeing it come to form. I really cannot fathom what this moment was like when God put the stars in the sky, but it had to be awesome!!

Then He decides that this beautiful place that He created needed to be filled with something. So He painted in ocean life, animals that live in the sky and animals that live on the dry ground. All He saw all what He painted and said it was look good.

God looked at this beautiful picture and saw that it was still not complete, that there was no center piece in His painting so He breathed on His painting and a man and women appeared. Then God stepped back and said, “Perfect, now it is complete.” Then God rested.

After this, we messed up. We were tempted by some forbidden fruit, that was not a mystery to us, and because we knew how wonderful, good, and powerful God is, we were jealous. With the encouragement and bad advice by an outside source, Satan, and we grasped on to the lie and rebelled and became something lesser than what we were created to be.

Then we forgot this God. When we looked at this creation we saw it as forces behind everything and thought that since there is a sun than there most be a force behind the sun and that idea developed into a ‘sun god.’ And process does not stop until there is god for every force of nature. If you look at ancient cultures, like the ancient Greek culture, there is a god for everything and there is even a god that governs all the rest of the gods. In Greek culture the god of thunder and lighting was the ‘god king’ because thunder and lighting are powerful force and this god’s name is Zeus.

Now, the true God, the Father of this creation said, “Wait a minute, this is my creation and why is my creation making created things to worship?” Kind of stupid that created beings would created false gods to submit to.

So God decided to reveal himself. He wanted to build a nation of people that would let the whole world that He is God. Kind of like a ‘lighthouse’ nation that would shine light to direct humans make to Him. So in scripture, when it is says to describe this God, you sometimes hear this phrase: The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel).

And the journey begins.

After a time in slavery in Egypt, the decedents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who God changed his name to Israel, which was given in Genesis 32:28 because Jacob struggled with God and with men and have overcome.

So the decedents of these three men were divided into 12 tribes and numbered in the hundreds of thousands. They called themselves Israel after Israel and I believe that the meaning of that name given to Jacob lived out by these people.

Now when God delivered these people from slavery, He brought them to his mountain, Mount Sinai and gave them His Ten Laws commonly called: The Ten Commandments.

I want to read the first two Commandments.

Genesis 20:1-6 (NLT)

(1) Then God gave the people all these instructions:
(2) “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.(3) “You must not have any other god but me.(4) “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. (5) You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. (6) But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

In this moment in history, a people group, the nation of Israel made a covenant with this God, this God who made Himself known from their fathers and now them. God has made himself known and declared that He is the only true God in a world that has hundreds of false gods.

Now as the story goes on, the relationship between these people and God started to grow, but not in a way that they are getting closer. No, the people started to forget. They forgot about the God delivered them from slavery and who they, His people, made a covenant with to worship Him only and be His people.

Slowly, but surely, this nation started to bring in idols of their pagan neighbors and started to worship man made things. And slowly, but surely, God with drew His blessings, NOT HIS PRESENT, because God keeps His promise!! During the time of King Ahab, king of Israel, God with drew His blessing of rain and for three years the lands of Israel were dry and useless.

Reason why?

1st King 16:29-33 (NLT)
(29) Ahab son of Omri began to rule over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of King Asa’s reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria twenty-two years. (30) But Ahab son of Omri did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, even more than any of the kings before him. (31) And as though it were not enough to follow the example of Jeroboam, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and he began to bow down in worship of Baal. (32) First Ahab built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria. (33) Then he set up an Asherah pole. He did more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than any of the other kings of Israel before him.

I do not know about you, I do not want to be the person known through out history as the one who provoked and angered God more than anyone else.

God used sent His messenger/prophet Elijah.

Elijah was the guy how told King Ahab that there would be no more. So King Ahab did not like Elijah, in fact for the past three years during this drought, Elijah was the most wanted (dead or alive) ‘criminal’ in the country.

But now God was tired of waiting and He knew that He needed to make Himself distinct among His people again. His people who forgotten Him and the have forgotten about Egypt. And even during the drought, Israel was not looking nor turning their heart back to God, but asking Baal and Asherah to bring rain.

(Story from 1st Kings 18) - (for a cool illustration of this story go to http://www.store-dust.com/ )

So now you know why the true God, that has proven himself as being the ONLY TRUE GOD, was a little upset and sent his only prophet at the time that was not in hiding or dead, the Prophet Elijah to comfort King Ahab say-

“As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives – the God I serve – there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

Now it is the third of the drought and King Ahab calls on this servant Obadiah, who is also a faithful servant of the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Obadiah has also been hiding 100 of the Lord’s prophets in caves and giving food and water. King Ahab calls Obadiah and says that his horses and herds are running out of food water and food. King Ahab wants to ride out to find grassing lands for the royal horses and herd. At the same time that this was going on God calls on Elijah to go and present himself to King Ahab.

While King Ahab and Obadiah were searching for grassing land King Ahab had a great idea that they split up and he will go one direction and Obadiah will go in the opposite direction. So while Obadiah was searching for grassing he saw a figure in front of him it was a man with long straggly hair with ruff, skin wearing sleep skin, and with the overall look of a wilderness dweller. As Obadiah drew closer he recognized the man and drop to his face because it was Elijah.

Elijah tells Obadiah to go and tell King Ahab that Elijah is here. That struck fear in Obadiah eyes because he knew that King Ahab has been looking for Elijah for the past three years and King Ahab would really enjoy seeing Elijah’s head on a spear displayed in his throne room and only for Elijah but himself because if he goes and gets King Ahab and Elijah is not there his head might be on a spear in the King Ahab’s throne room. But Elijah says-

1st Kings 18:15 (NLT) - “I swear by the Lord Almighty, in whose presence I stand, that I will present myself to Ahab this very day.”

So Obadiah goes and gets King Ahab and brings him to back to the spot and Elijah was there.

Now Elijah and King Ahab are face to face for the first time in three years and King Ahab says, “So is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?” I can imagine what Elijah was thinking at this time: You are calling me the troublemaker? If it was not for you and your evil wife we would not probably be in this situation in the first place.

And that is pretty much what comes out of Elijah mouth-

1st Kings 18:18 (NLT) - “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. 19 Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.”

1 verse 850. Las Vegas would call this a blowout. This would be like Friends University’s Football team playing against the Kansas Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Or if you are a European Soccer like me it is like York playing Manchester United at Old Trafford.

So everyone shows up at Mount Cameral which is located in modern day Lebanon and the cool thing about this mountain is that it over looks the modern day Mediterranean Sea, very beautiful setting for a very beautiful event that is about to happen.

Now all of Israel, King Ahab, and all of them priests of Baal and Asherah are present on the Mountain. And now Elijah stands up and says-

1st Kings 18:20-24 - (20) So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. (21) Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.

(22) Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. (23) Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. (24) Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed.

So the challenge has been set both Elijah and the Priests were given one bull and they were to repair it and present on the alter as an offering for their god. But they were not to set fire to the offering. If their god is the true God, He will send fire to take the offering.

Elijah lets the priests of Baal and Asherah go first and they prepare the bull and build the alter to Baal and Asherah and start praying and dancing area for Baal to answer them. They shout, “Oh Baal, answer us!!” And they do this all mid-morning and around the noon hour, there was still no answer.

And at this time Elijah starts mocking. He says, “Maybe Baal is a deep sleep, maybe you should shout louder to awake.” So like gullible little kids, the priest of Baal start shouting louder.

Then Elijah starts mocking them again, “Maybe Baal is on vacation, or maybe (this is my favorite one) maybe he is in the restroom.” At this time, mid-afternoon, the priest of Baal and Asherah start taking swords and spears and start cutting them selves. Now, lets stop here and let me clarify something to you, this cutting was not just slicing the skin to let a little wound the size of a cat scratch. This was stabbing, ripping, and mutilating their bodies. The blood was not leaking out, it was gushing out. It is very likely that some of the priests of Baal and Asherah that were doing this died because of blood lost. This was not a pretty sight; it was a very ugly, smelly, horrible way to worship a god that has never proven himself to be real.

Now it is late afternoon around 5 PM and the Bible says that this was the time of the daily sacrifice, Elijah stops the non-sense of the Baal worship. He calls all of Israel to gather around. It says that Elijah rebuilt the alter of the Lord by using 12 stones, each stone presenting one of the 12 tribes of Israel.

For Judah

For Issachar

For Zebulun

For Reuben

For Simeon

For Gad

For Ephraim

For Manasseh

For Benjamin

For Dan

For Asher

For Naphtali

Then Elijah digs a trench that is able to hold about three gallons of water. Then Elijah prepared the bull and placed it on top of the wood that was on the alter and then he ordered that jars filled with water and be poured over the alter. Elijah commands this to be done three times and by the end of the third time, the alter was soaked and the trench was overflowing. Now for you who do not know, wet wood does not burn, no matter how many times you take a flame to it. And this was the thought that was going through the minds of all the people of Israel.

Then Elijah prayers

1st KINGS 18:36-37 (NLT) – (36) At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. (37) O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

Than Fire from Heaven comes rushing down and engulfs everything, the offering, the wood, the stones, the water, and even the top soil. Then when Elijah looks out upon the people of Israel they were all face down, because they True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has made himself known and present.

Conclusion

Are we like Israel?

We live in the present of this God who created everything around us, but have we forgotten?

How do we live our lives?

If you are a Christian, shouldn’t your life look different from the rest of the world?

Ephesians 4:17-32 (NLT)
(17) With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. (18) Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. (19) They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
(20) But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. (21) Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, (22) throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. (23) Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. (24) Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
(25) So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. (26) And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, (27) for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
(28) If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. (29) Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
(30) And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
(31) Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. (32) Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

People quite trying to fit in with the world, we do not need more people like who make the front page of PEOPLE magazine. Do not aspire for riches or fame.

Do you the type of people we need in world?

We need people to be distinctively different and be distinctively like Jesus!!

The Blessing

So may you realize that we worship the God who made Himself distinctively different from all the pagan gods.

May you live life distinctively extraordinarily different from everyone else.

May you live life distinctively like JESUS!!!

Thoughts From the Shower - Politics and Religion

2008-01-02T09:06:00.000-06:00

Sometimes while I am in the shower I just start to think, that is why we run out of hot water at my house.

Today I was thinking, while in the shower, the difficulties of mixing politics and religion. I know that this is kind of strange of a strange thought to have in the shower, but I am just weird like that.

But I was thinking about how the first Christian in the first three centuries acted and how we have changed in the last 1900 years.

Did you know that at one point in early years of Christianity, the Christians were called... Unpatriotic!! What!! So the early Christians did NOT believe it was their Christian duty to vote or to protest??

The early Christians did not put any hope on the government (besides the fact the government was trying to do religious genocide to them). They did not try to put people in positions of power nor do a 'peaceful protest.' All they did was....

meet at someone's home

broke bread and ate together

rescued child off the street and to care of the unfortunate

sang psalms and read the WORD

to care of each others need

They were living in true community and were living as disciples of Jesus.

May question is: Did the early Christians (who lived with nothing, no XBOX 360 nor ipods) have a better understanding of community and faith than 21st Century 1st world Christians who have everything?

Do we think that a check or a vote can change the world?

Dwell on this and see what God might reveal to you.

Prayer:
Father, we have failed to have genuine community with each other. We have failed to deny ourselves and to become vessels of ministry. I pray that everyone (even myself) will realize the potential that you created for and that with our selfish hearts (that only care about our own interest) we will understand that this life is a wasted life. Unlock our hearts, turn us back to you in a way that we are not looking for religious entertainment, but a genuine relationship with you and genuine community with others. Father, clean us our sins and help us understand forgiveness.

In the Messiah Jesus name,
Amen

To Deny Yourself

2007-12-31T08:37:00.000-06:00

This teaching is the first of a eight with a focus of actually Christian living. The goal is to take the beatitudes and expound on them and build a picture of what an authetic Christ follower would look like.

The frist concept that we must learn is....

To Deny Yourself

Matthew 5:3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The word ‘blessed’ in the original Greek text means: blessed, fortunate, happy usually in the sense of privileged recipient of divine favor.[i]

The privileged recipient of divine favor, how cool is that?

There is this guy, he is famous, and people groups all over the world today claim they are from his family tree and is was a person who was a privileged recipient of divine favor. This guy is Abraham. This man denied himself so much. He sold himself out from this one God in a cultural where there was hundred’s and thousands of gods. And this God told Abraham because of his faithfulness to Him that he would make Abraham a father of many nations.

Then God gave him a son at a very, very, very old age, scripture says that he was 100 years old.[ii] Abraham loved his son Isaac (son of his wife Sara) he was thankful for this gift from God.

But it says in Genesis 22

One day God decides to test Abraham's faith. "Abraham!" God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” God intructed to take Isaac, his only son with his wife Sara and the son whom he loves so much, and to travel to the land of Moriah and put his son on an altar and give him as a brunt offering on one of the mountains, which God will so him.

Hang, wait a minute. Did God just ask Abraham to sacrifice his whom Abraham loves so much? This is so out of character for God. This is the first time that God has ask for the blood of a human.

I attend Rob Bell’s latest speaking tour: Why Aren’t the gods Angry? Now I am not going to spoil Rob’s message so you will have to go and get it on DVD, but he goes into some of the different types of pagan worship. Rob talks about a Canaanite god of hops or a beer god. They sang songs and celebrated this god by drinking fine golden brew of fine ales. And often these celebrations end with people passing out and have terrible headaches in the morning.

Now this was type of a more ridiculous type of pagan worship but there was bloodier and grotesque type of pagan worship. Now there was many of gods in many different cultures but Molech the Canaanite god of fire is probably the god that will hit home.

Molech, (or Molek) was the chief god of the Phoenicians, and Canaanites, mentioned as the god of the Ammonites, Western Semitic, probably known to the Israelites before King Solomon. Human sacrifices were offered to him, mainly firstborn children, the victims were slowly burned to death in the outstretched arms of this idol, which were metal, hollow and could be heated on the inside. Some say they fell into the fire below. Manasech offered his son to Molech. Solomon erected an altar to this god on one of the summits of Mount Olivet. (1 Kings 11:7) This idol worshipping continued there and in Tophet until Josiah abolished it and defiled the altars. (2 Kings 23:30) Molech was also worshipped in Carthage, where at one times about 200 little boys were sacrificed in hopes of saving that city from siege.[iii]

So why does this God of Abraham, who is the creator of life want to take life? I cannot imagine the stock and sadness that Abraham must have felt. That is God who stated that he is the only and true God. The God whom promised Abraham that he would be the father of nations, now asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son from Sara.

So does Abraham do? He does not argue. He does not curse God nor cries out to God. What does Abraham do?

Abraham obeys. And he probably did not even dwell on these questions for 5 seconds. Because he did not wait very long to act on. In fact Abraham, Isaac, and two of his servants left early the next morning and headed to the land of Moriah. They traveled for three days until Abraham looked up and saw the place place in the distance. Then intructed his servants to stay with the donkey while Isaac and him go up and worship. So Abraham place the wood on the shoulders of his son and Abraham carried the torch and the knife.

As they were working up the mountian Isaac ask his father, "Father, we have wood and fire, but were is the the lamp or goat for the sacifrice?" Abraham relpied, "God will provide."

Abraham obeyed. Not only did Abraham obeyed God but his son Isaac obeyed too. You see Isaac was not a small boy of eight to twelve years old. Isaac was more closer to the age of 30 when this took place, which places Abraham at the age of 130 years old, kind of crazy. I would like to think that if Isaac did not want to be placed on the alter, he would not have a problem stopping his 130 year old father from tying him up. But there was not a struggle, Isaac denied himself.

So, Abraham bound his son and placed Isaac on the wood alter and raised the knife. I can image the tear in his, but Abraham denied himself and placed himself at the mercy of God in his worship.

Then God intervened and provided.

Angel of God called to Abraham from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham! Don't lay a hand on the boy! Do not hurt him in any way, for I know that yout truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son."

Then in the corner of Abraham's eye he sees something that was not there before. A ram was caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. (16) “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

Denying yourself is the first sign and step towards following Jesus. Like we just fold out with Abraham, a great figure of faith.

Mark 8:34-38
(34) Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. (35) If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. (36) And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? (37) Is anything worth more than your soul? (38) If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Strong words from Jesus. But He laid it down and said this is how it is going to be.

Jesus was the perfect example, He deny himself, submitted to the cross so that we might gain back what we lost in the garden, perfect relationship with God and with each other. But it is not for free. It does cost something, it cost you our life. Grace and Discipleship cannot separated from each other.

It is impossible to call yourself a Christian with first denying yourself, becoming poor in spirit, and taking up your cross and following in order to become a true disciple.

This is how a person can maximize their potential here on earth, by denying themselves and taking up their cross.

Conclusion

“A Christian is a person living out the function of Christ” – Cliff Bragg

“We try so hard to length our lives instead of deepening our lives” – Erwin McManus

“The only man who has the right to say he justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to fellowship Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that the call is inseparable from the grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation from following Christ are simple deceiving themselves.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer[iv]

BE LIKE JESUS, IMITATE HIM IN EVERY WAY!!!

The Blessing:

May you and not live in the fakeness and superficial world that is around us today.
May you realize that you created to be full of potential.
May you realize that denying is not trapping you but freeing you to experience the fullness of Jesus Christ.
And may you BE LIKE JESUS and IMITATE HIM IN EVERY WAY!!!

Endnotes:
[i] Frederick Danker Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983) pg 121.

[ii] Genesis 21:2

[iii] Smith's Bible Dictionary, Philadelphia, A. J. Holman, Co., Revised Ed., p. 205Jordan, Michael, Encyclopedia of Gods, New York, Facts On File, Inc. 1993, p. 168

[iv] Dietrich Bonhoeffer Cost of Discipleship (New York: Touchstone Books, 1959) pg 51.

Thoughts and Reflections 11/30/07

2007-11-30T11:03:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I wonder....

My purpose here on plant earth?

What does God have instore for me?

Why do I feel stuck?

I just wonder why to I feel unhappy, unsure, and unmotivated . Sometimes I feel like I am wondering in the desert, the Israelites in the Bible. Just wondering around doing nothing and being nothing.

I want a deliver. I want to be save from myself. And as I enter into December, the month in which everyone decides to become a Christian again, I hope for transformation and I hope for change in my life. I hope that I understand what it means to be a disciple.

I long to be in relationship with Jesus. I long to be at His feet and learning what it means to be an actual child of God. I long to learn what it means to love and live a life as a peacemaker and NOT a trouble starter. I long for a life free of sin and a life that is free of hurt.

I long for Jesus, my deliver.