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Paying the Price

Haggai 1

 1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2“Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.” 3Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

 7“Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. 8Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”

I was looking at this passage today and it kinda hit hard.

I know a lot of folks use this passage to talk about giving. I think we are missing a lot when we take a scripture and apply a label to it.

Read the passage again. God is talking about rebuilding the temple of God. In a New Testament context, the building of stone and wood has been replaced by a temple of flesh and blood.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

God is talking about how we devote so much to what returns so little. We build our houses (look to satisfy our desires) while we neglect the temple (our spirit man). I used to wonder why we don’t see the kind of miracles and wonders of the bible in this present day. The fact is we don’t want to pay the price that is required to see God do those kind of things in and through us.  

Matthew 20:20-23 

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Its really bad how we want to see revival, we want to see people healed and transformed by the gospel, we want God to do so many things, but we don’t want to pay the price to see those things happen. We want everything handed to us on a silver platter and no sweat off our brow. We don’t want to study, we don’t want to pray, we don’t want to fast, we don’t want to volunteer “too much of our time”,we don’t want to take too much focus off ourselves for too long to see God do anything significant in our lives, our church, our community, our city, state, country, or world. As long as we are good in our own little world, we are content. This my friends, is not the gospel. 

Those who make the biggest difference make the biggest sacrifices. The gospel will not be manifest in our lives until we deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. The “cup’  He would have us drink is not kool-aid folks. It is hard. It is a sacrifice. It is a lot of self-denial. I was just told by my doctor a week ago that my blood sugar is way too high. I have had to make some changes in what and how I eat. Many things that I enjoyed are now things that I can no longer enjoy. It is hard to give up things that you enjoy. It has been a struggle for me at times, but I understand that if I do not make those changes, I may die or have serious health issues when I get older. Same thing with our spirit lives. If we neglect what our spirit needs to grow and develop, we produce lives deficient of fruit the of the Spirit. Many times we struggle with the same things in our lives because we neglect our spirit man.

Do you want a closer relationship with God?

Do you want to see others come to know the grace that God shown to you?

Do you want to know what God says the situations you are facing in your life?

Do you want to be free from addiction?

Do you want to be able to worship God with passion and reckless abandon?

This will not happen doing the same ole thing you are used to doing. This will only happen when you step out of your comfort zone, deny yourself, volunteer to do something in your church, make time for His Word and prayer, and when you mess up, get up and keep going.

Will you pay the price?

Kevin

March 11, 2011 | Categories: Food for Thought, Life Experiences, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Taking a Shot

Punching It In

Image by Clover_1 via Flickr

I remember when I was a kid, my big brother used to punch the mess out me. Thats what boys do. They wrestle, play slaps, arm wrestle, bloody knuckles, you name it. Playing these games would get you bruised up and occasionally bloody, but they were a right-of-passage and showed you how tough you were and how you gained respect by the other boys.

As we move into adulthood, the shots we take are much less physical, take on other forms, and can be a lot more serious. Whether it’s a crazy co-worker that hasn’t had their coffee, or it could be a bad diagnosis from a doctor. The way we take these shots reveals our character and in whom in we trust. Check out what Paul went though:

2 Corinthians 11:24-28

24Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

As Christ-Followers, we are going to take shots. We are going to get bad news, we are going to have disagreements with our spouses, we are going to experience various trials and tribulations. Some things are just going to bust you right in the chops.

As a Christ-Follower, can you  take a hit? Can you turn your cheek when your co-worker tries to run you down to your boss? Can you declare the Lord is your healer when you are diagnosed with some disease? Do you rest on His strong right arm when it seems there is no way out of your circumstance?

The Bible declares that we will have trials, tribulations and turmoil. Will you take the shot and keep moving forward or will you shrink back? Will you walk in faith or will you allow the enemy and this world to run all over you and steal your joy and peace? It’s time to move forward in faith in Christ. It’s time to start preaching the gospel to yourself and to your circumstances instead of listening to them and allowing them to dictate how much joy and happiness you experience in your life.

2 Corinthians 4:7-11

7But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Are you ready to take a shot?

Kevin

March 7, 2011 | Categories: Food for Thought, Life Experiences | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Just Being

Couple on the beach

Image by foshie via Flickr

One thing I enjoy very much is dates with my wife. I enjoy being with her. It’s not necessarily what we are doing, it’s just being together. It’s during these times that I  get to remind myself how wonderful she is and why I fell in love with her.

Why would this not be the same with our relationship with God? Sometimes we need to “just be” with Him.

Psalm 16:11 (English Standard Version)

 11You make known to me the path of life;
   in your presence there is fullness of joy;
   at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

If there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore, why would we not make the time to be with Him? What are we doing that is more important? There is a gospel balance in having relationship with Him and “serving Him”. 

Matthew 7

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Jesus spoke some very important words here. He was explaining how important relationship is over works. The problem most of us run into is that we get so caught up trying to things for God, that we forget to “be with Him”. This passage shows that we can do things in His name and have God tell us that He never knew us. Most of us feel like if we are not doing something for Him, we are not loved by Him and it is because of our good deeds we are loved. The gospel teaches us that we ARE ALREADY LOVED and accepted by Him, before we knew Him,and it because of THAT love that we are free to love Him with no strings attached and no services we must render to deserve that love. So when I mess up with my wife or kids, or blow it some other way, HE LOVES ME NO LESS! His love is complete and unalterable, meaning it does not change, nor can it be changed!

That’s the gospel.

He’s waiting on you. Will you quiet the chaos that is your life for a little while and “just be” with Him? Enjoy His presence, and take the time to remember why you were drawn to Him in the first place. Find the joy that you have been looking for for so long. You will not miss whatever it is that you think is so much more inportant than spending time with Him.

Just Be

Kevin

March 2, 2011 | Categories: Food for Thought, God's Love, Things That Inspire Me, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

1Samuel 15 (Part 4)

Mount Carmel, israel

Image via Wikipedia

We are continuing in our study in 1 Samuel 15:

12And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”

I’ve been studying this passage out for a little bit, and it has some interesting lessons to learn. As we know from the previous scriptures we have looked over, Saul was commanded to completely annihilate the Amalekites. Reluctantly, and not completely, Saul goes out and after waiting for a time, attacks and puts a hurting on the Amalekites. He did not carry out the command to wipe out everyone including animals. Not only does he show off the spoils of “his victory”, he decides he is going to set up a monument to himself in the city of Carmel.

I looked up what the word Carmel means. It means: a garden planted with fruit trees, herbs, corn, ect; a fruitful place. In the context of what this means to you and me, we get a picture of when idols are created more often than not: in the fruitful times in our lives. Just like Saul was feeling pretty big in his britches, we tend to create our idols in the midst of our greatest triumphs and victories. We get to thinking we are all that and a bag of chips  and start to think that somehow, someway we had something to do with why anything good happens in our lives.

‘”I worked hard for that promotion”~ You may have but the sciptures say that God raises up and casts down. So you working hard is good, but how many people have you seen that didn’t work hard that have received promotions and posiitons?

“I nailed that talk! Look at how the people are responding!”~ you may have delivered a fantastic talk but remember who has called you and anointed you. Remember outside of God’s grace we can do no good. The Holy Spirit draws those He calls to Himself, so you don’t know what circumstances had led someone to be there to hear you that day so you could say the right thing at the right time.

James 4

6But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

I have heard it many times and and it still holds true, that the time we need to guard our hearts the most is when God gives us a breakthrough or blessing or we are in a fruitful time of ministry. There are many men who God blessed their ministry tremendously but they setup monuments of their leadership and ability and God has brought them low. Many thought they could do whatever they wanted and God would bless them, just like Saul. A lot of those men are not in minstry anymore because they became their own god and though it was ok to disobey God’s word and make up their own rules, just like Adam and Eve. There are also great men of God who knew whom they belonged to. Men who knew that God was and is their source of grace and strength. Men who remained humble despite the fact that so many admired and respected and revered them. Men who were open about their struggle with sin and knew it was only by the grace of God that they even knew God. These type of men have legacies that have long outlasted their lives and people still admire them because God has chosen to exalt these men despite the fact they are no longer with us.

Will people remember you by things you did “for God” or by how you loved God with all your heart, mind, and strength?

Big difference.

To be continued…

Kevin

February 23, 2011 | Categories: Bible Study, Food for Thought, Leadership, Ministry, Pitfalls, Samuel, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

1 Samuel 15 (Part 3)

Samuel Blesses Saul (1Sam. 9:17)

Image via Wikipedia

Let’s continue shall we?

10The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night.

Honestly, it is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that a sovereign God who knows the beginning from the end would regret anything. I have to be reminded that despite God’s foreknowledge of things, we can still grieve, hurt, and disappoint God. Sometimes foreknowledge is not always a great thing.

In my own life, just because I know all things work together for my good, does not always make me feel better when I am in the heat of the battle, and all hell is breaking loose around me. I know when I focus on the end result, (spiritual growth, maturity, and a closer relationship with Him) it does bring comfort and strength in the midst of the trial. When I focus on the issues that are trying to make me doubt and despair and disobey, it only prolongs that trial and holds me there in that problem a lot longer than I would have if I just trust God and worship Him despite the circumstances.

Another point I would like to make here is about disappointment. Disappointment can be paralyzing in the life of Christ Follower and as a leader. Disappointment is a dream destroyer. It paralyzes dreams and builds walls between us and the plans God has for our lives. When we experience disappointment, we are wounded, when we are wounded, it makes us hesitate to move forward in our lives because we are too busy trying to protect the wound. We cover wounds with many things (skepticism, sarcasm, bitterness, anger, apprehension, judgment) and these things my insulate us from being wounded again, but they also buffer us from those things and people God may want to use to restore our faith and heal our hearts.

God didn’t decide to get rid of Saul right away and put someone else in. God also didn’t hesitate to begin to move forward and begin to train the character of a little sheperd boy in Bethlehem named David. God and Samuel showed us how to deal with disappointment. Admit the disappointment, grieve if you need to, cry out to God, vent, fume, rant, but move forward. Be faithful when those that let you down were not. Value God rather than the things you want from God and the people that you thought God was going to use to bring it to pass through. Understand that this moment of crap is nothing compared to the glory to come. Stop looking at people like they are next great disappointment (people are always going  to disappoint you at some time) and realize that we are all still here by the grace of God.

When my mother died, I didn’t understand why God didn’t heal her. When I went back to college, I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get a job in the field after I had my degree.  There have been times I have opened up myself to people, only to be hurt by those people. I have had people dangle things in my face to “motivate” me to do things only to find out later that it wasn’t going to happen. I could have allowed those things to keep me balled up in the fetal position, to allow bitterness to dig its roots deep in my heart and steal my joy, and kill my dreams. It’s at those critical times that I have to choose to not let those things take hold of me. I would love to say that I do this all the time when something happens, but God gives us grace when we pull our heads out of our butts and we allow God’s Word to speak truth into our hearts.

To Be Continued…

Kevin

February 4, 2011 | Categories: Samuel | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

1 Samuel 15 (Part 2 Addition: Doubt and Disobedience)

Before I get into the next piece of the scripture, I just want to share a little something else I discovered after I already posted my last post.

I stated that I assumed that Saul had some doubt about obeying God’s command when I read this verse:

5And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.

I decided to do a word study on this verse, and it was very interesting. It seems that the phrase “and lay in wait” when translated into the Hebrew comes from the word “riyb” which means to strive against, to doubt so this proves my previous conjecture that King Saul was indeed questioning the Word of the Lord or had no desire to do what God had told him to do and was struggling with this command.

Have you ever struggled with anything that God has told you to do? Have you found reasons to not do what you know God told you to do?

One thing I have learned in my years with God is that going part of the way with what God tells you will only lead to disaster. If you lead in doubt, those who follow will doubt. If you serve half-hearted, people will see it written on your face.

Just wanted to share that with you all.

To Be Continued….

Kevin

February 3, 2011 | Categories: Samuel | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

1 Samuel 15 (Part 2)

Painting Of The King Saul.

Image via Wikipedia

This is a continuation of our study of 1 Samuel 15. Hope you got a lot out of the last post. Let’s dive right into the text:

4So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

A critical view of Saul could be that after receiving the Word of the Lord he numbered his troops, showing his faith in the strength of men rather than faith that no matter how many men he had, God would give them victory. I won’t go there right now.

This is some conjecture on my part but you can almost see Sauls hesitation to obey the voice of God in verse 5 :

5And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.

 God commanded Saul to kill all the Amalekites, not just some of them, including the animals. We see that the Kenites were dwelling with Amalekites, yet he gave them the opportunity to leave, even though they were living with and supporting the enemies of Israel. It would seem that Saul kinda hung around a little bit, perhaps hesitating. You can begin to see a string of compromise in Saul.  The thing that really stands out is verse 9:

 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them.

When it says “all that was good” it’s talking through the eyes of Saul, not God. This is a principle for you and me as Christ-Followers: Not everything that looks good is a God thing.  Saul decided to disobey God’s commandment and spare Agag and “all that was good”. There are things we can value that are good, but when they are not put in their rightful place, they become idols and take the place of God in our lives. Example, I am called to love my wife and children, that is a good thing. If I allow my wife to persuede me to not take my family to church to spend more family time on a regular basis, that is placing your family as god.(If you are not spending any time with your family, you are out of balance as well) Our first service is to God. If we allow any other thing to take His place, as preeminent in our lives, everything else in our lives will be out of balance. A job is a great, but if you put your career before your relationship with God, it makes that great thing evil because anything that brings us more joy or fulfillment than Christ alone is an idol.

When we reinterpret God’s word to us  to suit ourselves, we are on a very slippery slope. We risk setting up a different religion in our own image and likeness. When look at things in our lives through our eyes, we can easily decieve ourselves into believing a lie. We no longer see the things we think are good as enemies of God’s work in our lives. We embrace the deception as truth and live in a religious system that we have created and built for ourselves. When we embrace God’s Word and His truth that He is trying to speak to us, He gives us so much more than we ever would have had serving our idols and doing what is good in our own eyes.

This is why it is so hard for us to change. We don’t allow God’s truth to reveal the idols in our lives. We fight and struggle with God rather than letting Him do the work He is trying to do in our lives. Sometimes we struggle for years with the same thing because we refuse to accept His word as truth and choose to go on decieving ourselves.

Lord, help us to see your truth and walk in it. Let us not deceive ourselves, but give us the strength to let go of those things that we value more than you. Tear down the religions we have made with our own hands and might. Let them crumble before a God that has so much better for us than we could ever create in and of ourselves. Amen

To Be Continued…

Kevin

February 3, 2011 | Categories: christian living, Food for Thought, Samuel, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

1 Samuel 15

Defence

Image by monkey cat via Flickr

This is (hopefully) a study of the chapter 1 Samuel 15. There is a lot of stuff here and I don’t want to leave too much out. It is a powerful chapter. I was at work the other day and I felt like I was being drawn by God to this passage. So there is personal meaning that I apply to my own life and hopefully to yours as well. We have been studying the gospel and its power to change our lives at Journey Church for about a year. It has been an incredible journey and continues to challenge me in more ways than I can get into in this post. Let’s get started on this passage. 

The Old Testament is a type of representation of the New Testament. There are a few ways to look at it and there is a lot of wonderful things that the Old Testament reveals. The way I am looking at this passage, at this time, is a representation of the life of a believer or Christ-Follower.  The three persons involved in this chapter is God, of course He is involved, Saul, the king of Israel, and Samuel the prophet. Let’s take a look at the first few verses:

1 Samuel 15:1-3

 1And Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. 2Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey 

If we look at this scripture in the context of modern culture, lots of people would have a a problem listening to God tell them to kill every man, woman and child of  any people. We have to look at this in the eyes of God. God just led the people out of a land of people who served various idols and gods. The people of Israel have only heard passed down knowledge over 200 years, of who the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob is. There is no Bible to look at, or website to pull up. All these people know is that this unknown God has performed some great miracles and delivered them from slavery to the Egyptians. Throughout the next 40 years, God is constantly dealing with their wayward hearts, even after the 10 commandments were written by the very finger of God. His very first commandment was that they should have no other Gods before Him, and even still Israel disobeyed, complained, and tried to create gods that fit more to their own liking. Sounds a bit familiar huh?

After God had the people of Israel wandering 40 years in the desert and the last of the people who doubted God when they were about to go into the promised land the first time had died, God commands the people of Israel to cross the Jordan and take the land of Caanan. A huge issue is the people there are not too unlike the Egyptians, people who worshipped other gods and did not worship the God of Abraham, Issac, or Jacob. Many of these nations practiced many things that were horrid in the eyes of God such as human sacrifice, beastiality, and incest. The Holy God of Heaven could never share a land with people who worshipped other gods or practiced such things that were against His commandments. Therefore God commanded the people of Israel to kill every man, woman and child and in some cases, even the animals. By the end of the book of Joshua, we see that Israel did not follow God’s commandment and actually took some of the women from these lands as wives. Because they failed to do as He commanded, God told Israel that these people would constantly cause problems for them despite the fact that God gave them the land. So throughout the Book of Judges and into 1 Samuel, we see Israel turn away from the one true God, to the gods of the people of that land, which forced God’s hand of protection to be removed and allowed those people to harrass, enslave, and oppress the people of Israel. Then Israel would cry out to God and He would raise someone up to lead and deliver the people from the oppression of their enemies and they would serve God for a time only to return to the idols of the people of Caanan.

So I guess you could  see the importance of why God commanded them to do so. Idolatry was the thing that God was constantly dealing with the people about and even when they followed His commandments, their hearts were not in their worship cause they worshipped other things in their hearts.

Let’s bring this representation into the life of the believer. God has delivered us from slavery to sin and has set us free from being enslaved to it. This is what happens when we confess Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. I think we who have been Christ-Followers for a while forget that just like Israel, we do not know Him and His ways immediately after accept Christ and we realize how jacked up we are in the presence of a Holy God. We have habits, hangups, fears, and mindsets that God has to reveal to us and deliver us from. We also have idols, or things that are constantly warring against us in the battleground of our hearts for our affections, our time, and our love. God is constantly pursuing our hearts, revealing the things that we value more than Him, so we can ultimately see that He is all we need and in Him we find our greatest joy! So in essence He is at war with everything that we love more, we find more joy in, that we look to find acceptance in, than Him so we can know unconditional love, pure joy, and acceptance that dwarfs any that comes from man, woman, or child. He will not rest until every part of our hearts are completely and utterly His.

This should bring us great comfort. We do not serve a God that passively stands by and watches us struggle. We have a God that sent His Son to redeem us back to Himself. We have a God actively a part of our lives, gving us the power to be more like Jesus every day, not a God that stands in heaven scowling at us every time we mess up. We serve a God that turns our impossible to change lives into incredible testimonies of His grace and mercy!

To Be Continued…

Kevin

February 2, 2011 | Categories: Bible Study, Samuel, worship | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Just a Glimpse of His Plan

Luke 5:16

17
On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus,19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.20 And when he saw their faith, he said, Man, your sins are forgiven you.21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, Why do you question in your hearts?23 Which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Rise and walk?24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins–he said to the man who was paralyzed–I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, We have seen extraordinary things today.

This is a fascinating piece of scripture. I remember reading about this story many times as a child. As an adult, I caught a glimpse of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Many times we see the actions of Jesus, but fail to see the over-arching theme of God’s ultimate plan to redeem all creation. In this story, we find Jesus teaching in someone’s house and there is a great crowd in and around the house trying to hear the words Jesus is speaking. The story takes an unusual turn when 4 guys show up carrying a man who is paralyzed. The “selfless” people that were in the house obviously would not move to allow this man in the house to be healed by Jesus. This obviously did not deter the men that were carrying this paralyzed man.

When I think of this paralyzed man, I think of myself. I think of a man paralyzed, lost in sin. Someone just like you who has no more power to raise a wing on a gnat than to possibly save himself. A man that has tried everything, including religion to be, “saved” only to find myself in the same lost, desperately hopeless state. I also think of God’s grace that drew me and carried me back to Him when I was lost in my sin, just like the 4 men that carried the paralyzed man. We never hear anything about these men, or whether these men were followers of Christ or not, but they were agents who helped bring the paralyzed man, just like the Holy Spirit draws us to Himself.

The thing that blows me away is once the paralyzed man has been lowered through the roof before Jesus, anyone reading would have assumed that He would have just said be healed, end of story. No, Jesus said to this man: “Your sins are forgiven”. This was so much more powerful than Jesus simply healing the man. Through these 4 words we get a glimpse into God’s ultimate plan to restore all things unto Himself just like Paul mentions in Colossians:

Colossians 1:19-20

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Christ was revealing this in the case of this man. Christ came to reconcile to Himself all things to Himself. When Christ forgave this man, the same power that forgave this man of his sin not only restored this man’s spirit and soul, but also restored this man’s body! The power of reconciliation restored everything back to this man. This is the power of the gospel. A plan to not just save souls, but to restore all of fallen creation.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We have been given a great responsibility. That power of reconciliation has been imparted to us. The same power that restored this man’s soul, restored his spirit, and his also His body is ours!

What will we (me included) do with this information?

 

Kevin

January 17, 2011 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave A Comment »

Lots of Downloading Lately

The canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke &...

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Been soaking in a lot of gospel teaching lately. I can feel the things I was taught becoming clearer and more grounded than ever in my life.

I have found much more stability in my life as a Christ Follower, Husband, and Father.

Things that bothered me a lot about other people doesn’t do so as much as I remember the grace that has been and is continually poured out on me in my life.

Gospel perspective has helped me see my wickedness and how much I deserately need the power of the cross of Christ working in my life.

It fills me with peace that I am totally accepted and loved by Him before I was born.

My praise and worship is so much more deeper and richer and fulfilling as I think of His goodness.

My mind is still blown away by the fact that its not my good deeds or religious service that moves the hand of God but His undeserved favor and mercy.

Meditating on the gospel has been a life changing experience.

I will try to share more on these things soon. There are a lot of books and blogs that are sharing the gospel message. I am certainly not a pioneer. We are all commissioned by Christ to share the gospel, so I definitely want to do that through every medium He allows me use.

Let me leave this passage with you:

I Cor 15: 3-7

3) For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4) that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5) and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6) Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7) Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8) Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9) For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10) But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11) Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

 Kevin

December 28, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

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