“I Hope Something Haunts You in Your Sleep”

As we are nearing the end of Lander’s semester, it was time last week to hand out evaluations for my students to complete.  As I was handing out their forms, I received last year’s evaluation from my Old Testament class.  There are things they grade you on and then there is a place for comments. I received 12 comments and …

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The Ram in the Thicket

At 100 years old for Abraham and 90 years old for Sarah, they finally have a son, Issac.  God’s promise is fulfilled.  God has blessed their family so they can be a blessing to all the families in the world. Yet, God makes things interesting again.  When Issac is older, God calls Abraham to sacrifice his son (Gen. 22:2).  After …

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Is Jesus Really the Only Way?

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”     -John 14:6 (NASB) His name was Yohei.  It was the year 2000 in Tokyo, Japan.  He told our mission team that Jesus, Allah, or anybody else who claimed to be God was probably correct.  They all …

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God Doesn’t Need You to Help Him Out

I mentioned in a previous post that God’s promise was not contingent upon Abram’s performance. Regardless of Abram’s shameful behavior, God still intends to bless Abram so that the nations of the earth can be blessed through him.  Abram couldn’t grasp a great nation coming from him if he couldn’t even produce one single child (Gen. 15:2).  His hope continued …

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“When Did Angels Hit the Scene?”

Teaching through the Old Testament, I’m often asked questions to clarify.  Here is an answer to this question: “When did the angels hit the scene?” That is a great question.  Scripture does not give specific details concerning the timing of the origin of angels, but we can gather enough information to narrow the time down. They are not explicity mentioned …

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Empowered by the Spirit

But when the Father sends the Counselor as My representative–and by the Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit–He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I Myself have told you.  –John 14:26 (NLT)

Jesus Christ was an amazing example for the disciples to follow as they learned how to be on mission to tell the world about the grace and love of Jesus Christ.  As Jesus ascended into heaven, He told the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come over them because Jesus knew that the Spirit would serve as a guide and a teacher in His physical absence.

During the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the disciples got what they were waiting for.  The Holy Spirit, the presence of God Himself, took up residence inside ordinary bodies – their bodies.  The disciples immediately hit the streets with a bold new style that the world has never recovered from.

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God’s Promise Is Not Contingent on Your Performance

Reading through the Old Testament, one might wonder where this Abram came from.  What is his significance?  Why is he now a main character in this grand story?  Why him?  And every single one of those questions is completely valid.

It appears as if there is nothing special about Abram except for the fact that he was chosen by God.  And that is more than enough.  Abram’s value does not seem tied up in the quality of the called but rather in the quality of the one who called him.

In a genealogy of Noah’s son, Shem, a man named Terah is listed last.  His crowning achievement?  He fathered a son named Abram (Gen. 11:26) who was married to a barren wife named Sarai (Gen. 11:30).  This genealogy from the surviving members of the flood comes to a screeching halt.  Based on the information given, Abram’s family of origin is known and his descendants seem an implausible dream at the moment.  No indication is given if this man is righteous, noble, bold, or innovative.  We are unaware if he is a gifted preacher or a skilled leader.  It is unknown if he is liar, cheat, or a thief.

We just know that he is chosen by God and that is where the story continues.

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God Has to Look Down at Our Highest Attempts

Ever since Adam and Eve were tempted to be like God (Gen. 3:5), all subsequent people seem bent to trod down the same path.  They want to prove they are holy.  They want to show others that they are set apart.  In Genesis 11, we read the epitome of the ridiculous notion that Mankind can reach God at Ground Zero of a place called the Tower of Babel.

At the Tower of Babel, Mankind attempts to reach God through their efforts and ingenuity.  The people spoke in only one language (Gen. 11:1).  Their desire was to maintain security, so they built a city in order not to be “dispersed over the face of the earth” (Gen. 11:4).  Their desire was to be praised, so they built a tower to the heaven in order to “make a name for themselves” (Gen. 11:4).  They desired to be comfortable and known.  Instead of listening to God, they wanted to be God.  If they could only build this tower high enough, they could reach the heights of heaven, storm the castle gates, and take over ownership and become the masters of their own fates.

The build was impressive.  It was very high.  Their skills and knowledge had increased vastly so that this tower was ever growing taller.  For all its height and majesty, God still had to humble himself to see such a tiny, insignificant, pathetic structure.  “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built” (Gen. 11:5).

For all their work to exalt themselves to the place of divinity, God still had to humble himself to behold their best, collaborative efforts.

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Noah and the Ark is Not a Children’s Story

I’m teaching the Old Testament at Lander University and I am also teaching it at our church this Fall.  As I prepare, I am noticing many things about the Old Testament that are misunderstood.  One of them is that Noah and the Ark is not a children’s story.  It’s a story for all of us. It’s deeper than rain and animals.  It has to do with the fact that God takes sin seriously.

Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the Garden.  Their son, Cain, killed their other son, Abel.  After this event, God blesses them with another son.  When Eve births another son, Seth (Gen. 4:25), solemnity is slowing taking over. Seth’s birth gives a subtle indication of deeper things transpiring with Mankind.

While the first people were made in the image of God, Seth is curiously described as a son in Adam’s “own likeness, after his image” (Gen. 5:3). On the external level, this reveals that Seth’s appearance is similar to that of his father’s. This phrase possibly also acknowledges the fact that these following generations are more and more marred by the curse of sin first seen in the father Adam.

This sinful nature and Adamic likeness grows. Sin continues to pervert, distort, and destroy what is good in God’s creation. Evil increases greatly, and God becomes evermore grieved over Mankind. God begins to impose an age limit of 120 years (Gen. 6:3) except for a few unique exceptions (Abraham lives to 175, Gen. 25:7).

Further, God declares that he is going to destroy his Creation which was good before sin corrupted it. “‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD'” (Gen. 6:7-8). The fact that God feels “sorry” does not indicate that he is now aware of something he didn’t see coming and he wish he would have never done it in the first place. God foreknew all that had transpired and all that would transpire. The actualization of enduring Mankind’s sinfulness produces a different type of grief within God than previously described.

Noah is the exception here. Chosen by God for a specific task, Noah “was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9). God’s wrath was coming for earth ever so filled with violence and corruption (Gen. 6:11-12). To save himself, his family, and a remnant of animals, God instructed Noah to build an ark that could sustain the coming wrath of God (Gen. 6:14-22).

Noah and the Ark was never intended to be a mere children’s story.

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Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

With the exile of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, humankind’s history takes a drastic turn. The first family is banished from Paradise, and this once “good” creation has apparently made some unfortunate self-modifications concerning the original model. One would hope that Adam and Eve would learn from this rebellious episode and warn subsequent generations from revolting against God.

The first children of Creation reveal how severely sin is already corrupting Mankind. Adam and Eve were at least obedient to the command “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28) as “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying ‘I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.’ And again, she bore his brother Abel” (Gen. 4:1-2).

Within one generation of God making man in his image, man murders that image in his very own brother. Apparently, sibling rivalry began with these first brothers. Abel watched the sheep and Cain worked the ground (Gen. 4:2). At some point, they each brought an offering to the LORD. It was a gift. It was intended to be a sacrifice of sorts to reveal a grateful heart to their Maker. As a farmer, Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground (Gen. 4:3). Shepherd Abel brought a sacrifice from his flock.

While it appears at first glance that both men provided a worthy gift, God does not regard them equally.

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Spiritual Multiplication

Have you ever heard of Dawson Trotman?  He was the founder of the Navigators.  Before he had a ministry program, he had a ministry.  He didn’t wait for a discipleship program to disciple someone.

After seeing the benefits of basic discipleship principles in his own life, Dawson Trotman wanted to teach them to others, echoing the call of 2 Timothy 2:2: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”

Dawson began teaching high school students and local Sunday school classes these principles. In 1933, he and his friends extended their work to sailors in the U.S. Navy.

Spiritual multiplication can be seen in the story of Dawson and Les Spencer, a navy man on the USS West Virginia.  After Trotman had been teaching Spencer truths from God’s Word for some time, Spencer brought a friend from his ship to Trotman and said, “Dawson, I want you to teach him all you have taught me.”

But Dawson said, “I am not going to teach him; you are going to teach him. If you cannot teach him what I have taught you, then I have failed.”

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Punishments in the Garden

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After Adam and Eve’s sin, they try to blame someone else for their mistake.  God has heard enough.  He warned against sin, and because he is a just God, he must give consequences for sin.  Rebellion must be addressed.  To the serpent, his legs are removed forcing him to slither on his belly from that point on causing him to choke upon the dust of the ground from which Man was made (Gen. 3:14).  God curses (arur) the crafty (arum).

In the midst of this depressing scene, hope emerges.  Gen. 3:15 serves as the “Protoevangelium.”  It is the first announcement of the gospel, or good news, in the Bible.  “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15).  God informs the listeners that Satan will be fighting against this human race for the remainder of days.  He will bruise Mankind’s heel.  He will trip many a people up who are trying to follow God, but there is also a promise of one who will come and not stop at the heel.  One will come to bruise Satan’s head leaving a lethal blow upon the enemy.

Concerning the identity of this attacker, one vital clue is given: he will be the seed of a woman.

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Adam vs. Eve

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The conversation continues to the point where Eve saw “that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6).  As she commences this sinful snack, it is revealed that Adam has been present the entire time.  If you read the first section of Genesis 3, every sign points to a conversation being held between the serpent and the woman.

There is no sign of the man anywhere.

You almost picture a seductive personality intruding in a home where the woman is left alone.  Surely this slick-talking, charming intruder wouldn’t dare entice a man’s wife to apostate from her God if her husband was home.  You get the feeling that the man of the house is gone, and someone has come to prey upon the unsuspecting wife in his absence.

Unfortunately, that is not the case.  Adam is there.  He is present the whole time.  Adam’s silence in this moment speaks more volumes than his recorded remarks ever will.

His passivity leads to the Fall of Mankind.

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Satan’s Schemes

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When God created, it was good.  Really good.  Until Satan came along.

Creation’s flawless nature is unable to last very long.  The entrance of a new, crafty being into the timeline changes the story’s dynamic in the blink of an eye.  With basically no introduction, the being known as the serpent slithers into the conversation with impending, disastrous results.  At first glance, all that is known concerning his identity is that he is “more crafty than any other beast of the field” (Gen. 3:1). 

The remaining pages of Scripture will fill in the holes of his identity.  This serpent is none other than the antagonist of the big story.  He is Satan – the Devil himself.  Some of his nicknames include the Accuser, Beelzebub, the Enemy, Lucifer, the Tempter, and other not-so-flattering monikers.  His aliases alone reveal that this is not a being to be trusted, and yet his very tactic is to get people to do that very thing.

To clarify, Satan is the antagonist, yet he is never depicted as having equal footing with the protagonist – Yahweh.

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The Withstanding Church

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Continuing on through the Book of Acts, we arrive at one of my favorite passages of Scripture.  In Acts 5, Peter and the disciples are at it again.  Preaching in the name of Jesus when they have been warned to stop.

They continue anyway.

While they are threatened, they show no sign of wavering.  One of the Pharisees, Gamaliel, escorts the disciples out and tries to reason with the angered religious leaders.

His comments are incredible:

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The Lying Church

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In this week’s study of the Book of Acts, we have arrived at the Lying Church present in Acts 4:32-5:16.  In this section, it shows how the early church continued to grow and how no one was in need because people were actually selling land and homes and giving it away to those who had need.

Pretty incredible stuff!  We think it is awesome when people give 10% to meet a need, and these people were actually selling stuff if the need was too great.

Then, they walked in.

Ananias and Sapphira were a part of the church.  They were watching all the hype happening with the people.  The church was celebrating individuals for their acts of holiness, and they decided to try to cash in on the excitement.

Bad, bad idea.

They did sell a piece of land.  They did give some of the money to the church, but they lied about how much it was so that they could: 1) benefit themselves, and 2) receive praise from man.  The Holy Spirit alerted Peter of their deception, and he calls them out individually and each of them dies in the midst of the church body.

I’m sure Peter had everyone’s attention then!  Can you imagine this scene at your church house if this happened on a Sunday morning?!

Here’s what we can take away:

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The Proclaiming Church

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In Acts 3-4, we see the story of the lame man sitting outside the temple.  Peter and John pass by and instead of giving him money, they get him to walk.  Much better.

As they enter the temple, the man is leaping and praising God.  He is also clinging to those that reached out to him.  And with the great thing that happened, enemies of Jesus are against it completely.

Here are some things to note about this proclaiming church:

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Stuck in the Orphanage

I was his father.  He was my son.  But at the time, we were just learning each other.

I was in Ethiopia getting ready to bring my son home from the orphanage.  We had many obstacles in his life to combat, but we really had faith that God was going to do some special things in his life.

When I called home to tell Amanda about our first encounters, I told her of how Eli was so handsome, funny, and energetic.  I told her that the nannies called him the “bus driver,” because all the bus drivers in Ethiopia were short, fat, and assertive.  Not sure if that was a good thing at the time or not.

She then asked if there was anything else that she needed to know.

Well, there was on thing for which she needed to prepare herself.

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The Family Church

As we continue our study in Acts, we come to the topic of the family church.  While Acts 2:42-47 is descriptive in nature, it does have some activities in which all churches should emulate.

Here’s the description of what the Church looked like after Peter’s message at Pentecost:

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Sermon Risks

I’m preaching Sunday.  I sometimes have mini-sermonettes while I lead worship.  I feel like my part of my job is to be a pastor with a guitar.  Not the fella who picks out the songs. But this week, I get the honor of opening up the Word of Life for the North Side family. And I’ve got that feeling.  I …

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The Empowered Church

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Week 2 in our study of Acts and we come to see what the empowered Church looks like.  What could happen when the Spirit of God radically changes lives in a congregation?

One of my mentors, Chuck Lawless, once taught me that the scary thing about many people is how much “ministry” they could actually do in their own power.  Natural talents and gifts could be so visible that it appears that God is blessing something when in actuality, maybe it’s just worldly success.  It could be simple influence.

I don’t want to settle for influence.  I want the Spirit of God.

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The Clueless Church

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I’m teaching through the Book of Acts this semester.  I’m not teaching at Lander this Spring, but I am teaching a survey of sorts.  I’m teaching it in 3 places: 1) College group at our house on Wednesday nights, 2) worship team practices on Wednesday nights, and 3) this blog.  I will be sharing some insights here weekly.

I’m teaching on Acts for a few different reasons: 1) it’s a book of the Bible, 2) it’s really good, 3) we are tragically neglecting the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and 4) I have never known such a time as then when Christians were more confused concerning what the Church really is.

We are clueless to what the Church really is.

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The Big Picture of the Old Testament

As I type, I am watching a group of Lander students complete their Old Testament final exam for the semester.  Some of them look like they got more sleep than others.  Some have a rough week ahead, others not so much.

I had never taught Old Testament at the university before.  I have taught different world religions courses, but this semester I got to teach Old Testament for the first time.  As I prepared for the class, I decided that I would teach it differently than traditional ways of teaching it.

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I Just Want My Daddy

It’s hard to imagine that my lil’ baby girl, Gloria, is over 7 months old now.  Time truly is flying by.  She’s sitting up, eating all types of new food, and doing this crazy type of crawl that always makes her face plant.

Recently, when I’ve picked her up from the nursery after church services, she has attempted to win me over every so successfully.  We have wonderful nursery workers.  They love her, she is cool with them.

But something happens when Daddy walks into the room.

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Why Your Family Benefits When They Are Second Place

It’s a contemplative time of year.

Fall has that effect on people.

Oftentimes at a time like this, Christians may say something like, “I’m ready to get my life back,” or, “I’m trying to put my life back together.”

If that is your desire today, you have missed the point. I don’t want you to put your life back together. Honestly, I want you to lose your life.

Read the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:32-39:

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Let It Go

When we’ve been wronged, it’s easy for us to turn into judge, jury, and executioner. We’ve been unfairly hurt, and we think it would be fitting to make things right. The problem is this: we are not the ones who make it right—that’s God’s job.

It’s time for us to let it go.

“Forgive the same way Jesus forgives: freely and willingly. Acknowledge God as the rightful Judge over that persons’ life” (The Resolution, page 176).

If someone has hurt you, it’s simply difficult to let it go. Read Romans 12:17-21 and discover how God desires us to handle our hurts:

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God Is More Concerned with Your Future Than Your Past

In church, we want any change in you that happens to be change that lasts for a lifetime. If we can’t apply the message, we are wasting our time in learning the truths (James 1:22-25).

We don’t want to make shallow commitments. We want to start walking in this truth, and we want to be faithful for the long haul. Oftentimes, we get bogged down in our past mistakes or our shallow commitments.  But God is more concerned with your future than your past.

Let’s learn from Peter’s example. His words and actions changed from time to time and reveal some of our own tendencies.  Look at how quickly his words and actions change:

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Hurrying After Wealth

Making money is not an evil thing and can be a thing that God uses to meets the needs of others. But an overly-ambitious heart can lead to greed and the downfall of a man’s wealth and integrity.

Take a moment and read Proverbs 28:21-22:

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Never Seen the Righteous Forsaken

“Men work. Men provide. And when those men are children of God who call on Him as their Father, they can be sure that God will always meet their needs” (From The Resolution, page 160).

Sometimes, even the hardest working man comes upon financial challenges. Families grow, bills increase, unexpected expenses occur, salaries shift, and yet in the middle of all of these circumstances, God provides.

Take a moment to read Psalm 37:25-29:

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Man Up

Scripture is full of servants who took a stand to confront evil. Look up these passages and learn from these examples. When the prophet Nathan heard about King David’s adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, what did he do about it (2 Samuel 12:7-9)?  He confronted and rebuked the King. When Nehemiah heard that God’s people were taking financial advantage of others, …

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When God Got His Hands Dirty

While Genesis 1 summarizes Creation, Genesis 2 takes a behind-the-scenes look at a very pivotal part of the work created on day six.  The author presses rewind and looks at the significance of how God created the unceasingly, stubborn race known as Mankind.  While Genesis 1 describes Elohim the Creator, when his work with mankind is revisited, a subtle English shift takes place with major Hebrew implications.

Instead of God creating Adam, the LORD God creates Adam.  In many translations, you might read the word “Lord” with every letter capitalized.  This word is not the simple Adonai meaining “Lord,” this word is Yahweh.  This is the name that God designates to himself when Moses later asks him how he should describe him to Pharaoh.  “I am who I am.”  Only when the shift happens from universal creation to the creation of mankind is Yahweh mentioned.  This shows that there is a God over all, but there is a LORD in relationship with some. 

While God spoke everything else into existence, he “made” man (Gen. 1:26).  God formed man out of the dust from the ground like a potter skillfully shaping and molding a vessel to his liking.

His hands, matted with dusty earth, shapes this man to be a specific image-bearer.

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Walking with God, Adam Was Still Alone

In the early stages of this relationship, God and Adam were close.  Adam experienced a level of intimacy in the Garden that no other human has ever fully experienced.  There was no sin.  There was no separation.  There was no Fall, curse, or corrupt nature.  God strolled through the Garden that Adam tilled.  We are talking face to face, eye to eye, life to life interaction.

And yet, amidst this intimacy, God says one of the most shocking statements concerning the only creature he formed in his very image: “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18).  The rolling rivers were good.  The berries on the tree were good.  The curiously formed duckbilled platypuses were good, and yet Man, made in God’s own striking image, was not good.

He was alone.

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Providing for Your Family

Providing for your family — it’s one of those interesting paradigms in God’s Kingdom. In some ways, you are to do all that you possibly can do to provide for them. You also are to pray and believe that God can provide all that you need. We are even to look at what “our hands have done” as a gift from God. It is a wonderful partnership and privileged responsibility.

So how is your family is doing?

Are there any needs in your immediate family that are not being met? If so, what are they?  What can you do to help? What can you pray and ask God?

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God is Good (And So is His Creation)

A simple threefold pattern describes the first six days of Creation.  In each day, something was stated, created, and affirmed.  God spoke something into existence.  He used words.  He said, “Let there be light.”  Using solely words, light burst forth at 670,616,629.2 miles per hour across nothing to illuminate the beginning of something.  God stated, and with those words, he created.  Each day, reflecting upon the day’s work, he would affirm it.  He saw that it was “good.”  It wasn’t evil.  It wasn’t imperfect.  It wasn’t lacking.  God’s creation was good.

God’s creation was the way it was intended to be before something so vile began to corrupt something so good.  In these first days, everything was new and vibrant and life-giving.  It was good.  It couldn’t help but be good — God created it.

He is good and it is only fitting that his creation would reflect his character.

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In the Beginning…

In the beginning, God.  The first words of the Old Testament leave no room for misunderstanding.  Before the details of the rest of the story are conveyed, the author wants to make sure the reader grasps a fundamental doctrine: in the beginning, God.  In the beginning, there was nothing other than God, and from the beginning, there was nothing that did not come from God.

God created everything we know and see out of nothing.  Usually, when someone tries to imagine “nothing,” they fall short.  Normally, that person is imagining space or a dark expanse, but even that is something.  That something fails to be nothing.  Aristotle stated, “Nothing is what rocks dream about.”  It’s impossible for our finite minds to even comprehend the concept of nothing, but that is exactly out of what God created.  He created the world ex nihilio (“out of nothing”).

He didn’t need any outside advice or help.  He wasn’t scrounging around for building supplies.  All he used to create everything we experience today was words uttered from his lips.

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The Love Test

1 Corinthians 13.  Commonly called “The Love Chapter,” this passage of Scripture directly speaks to how we are to love those that are closest to us.

Read 1 Cor. 13:4-7:

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I want to invite you to do a quick activity that could really reveal something about yourself.

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Count Your Blessings

To honor God, we need to always maintain a proper perspective.

You have been greatly blessed. While you may not be the richest person in the world, you have been showered with blessings. Let’s take some time to reflect on God’s provision in your life.

What are some of the financial blessings in your life?  What are some of the relational blessings in your life?  What are some of the spiritual blessings in your life?

While all of those blessings are very different, they all actually have the same origin. Read about it in 1 Corinthians 4:7.

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Does “Love Win?”

Rob Bell started a firestorm last year when he questioned the reality of hell.  MSNBC host Martin Bashir questioned him keenly on his claims.  Another theology think point for this week:

Would My Life “Fit” in the Bible?

Is my life biblical?  Is our church biblical?  In 50 years from now, what will people look at us and say was weird by the way we followed God? Great message clip to make you think:

“Video Games Are Stupid”

On this Labor Day, I thought I would share a challenging video clip from Mark Driscoll entitled: “Video Games Aren’t Sinful, They’re Just Stupid.”  This may or may not offend you depending upon how many video games you play, but my main reason for posting it is to make myself and anyone else willing to think how we spend our …

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