From when I was about 6 months old till I was 8 years old my family lived on a farm. On 3 farms actually, though not all at once. We moved around a bit. . .It seems like I am always on the move. When I was around 2 years old I wandered off into a corn field. I have no idea how I got out of the house and lost in the field. I’m the 5th of 6 kids, so it’s a good guarantee that one of us is going to get lost sometime or another. Anyway my family, as best as they could, searched the cornfield for me. The corn wasn’t fully grown but the stalks were taller than me, and with blond hair I blended right in. My family tried but could not find me. I was lost for sure. Not only was my family searching for me, but my mother had also gone to a local business and they assembled a search party to look for me. I was found later that day, but not by the search party or one of my family members — well, not by my brother, sisters, Mom, or Dad. Cookie found me. Cookie was our good ol’ farm mutt. She was named Cookie because all of her fur was black except her neck, which was white. She went into the cornfield and barked like crazy when she found me, thus making it possible for the searchers to locate us. I don’t remember much from that age but I do remember that dog. We have had A LOT of dogs, but Cookie was one of our family’s favorites. So that begs the question, can a dog be spirit-led? I say “why not?” I believe the Holy Spirit led Cookie right to me and sounded the alarm. What biblical proof do I have to back this up? There are a few Bible stories where God used animals to get his purpose fulfilled but the one that comes to mind is the fish with $$ in its mouth. Look at Matthew 17:24-26 “24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?" 25 "Yes, he does," he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?" 26 "From others," Peter answered. "Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. 27 "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” That fish had to listen to something to grab up a coin (the exact amount to pay 2 people's tax), not swallow it, and then be ready to get caught by Peter.
Saige is always asking me to tell her some of my childhood stories. As I tell her these stories of my life I reflect on how God fits into the picture. I know it was a dog that found me and dogs are great hunters, but Cookie was just a run-of-the-mill farm mutt with no “search and rescue” training. As I re-tell Saige this story over and over again I thank God that Cookie found me or else my life may have ended up corny. Get it? Because I was lost in a corn field. I guess that goes without explanation. So I ask you, can a dog, fish, donkey, or any other animal be Spirit-led? I think so, but I’ll let you decide. I know it’s not some deep theological dilemma, but it is something to ponder.
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
jimmy
Lost In Transition
Lost in transition.
Have you ever felt lost in transition? I almost feel like I am in a perpetual stated of transition. Just when I finally feel like I’m hitting my flow it’s time for transition again. I think the worse is when we (Kesha & me) commit to a transition and a great position opens up, a position that we can’t fill because we’re in transition. I went on BibleGateway.com to find something on the subject of transition. It brought up this great article by Ron Hutchcraft. I have no idea who he is or how he is doing as a minister. I guess I could do a Wiki search but I half way trust Wikipedia as anyone can edit it. I’m just going to copy and post his article. I could try to re-write it but something would get lost. Speaking of editing I’m also going ahead and posting this without my editor's approval. Kesha is super busy and it may be weeks before she can look at it.
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"And now, in the center ring, high above the big top..." Or something like that. When we took our kids to the circus, that was how the ringmaster would introduce those stars of the big show, those death-defying artists on the high trapeze. They're amazing! I mean, they leap with perfect poise and grace from one trapeze to another until they end up safe on that platform across the arena. Now, I can imagine someone with lots of practice eventually getting used to hanging onto a trapeze. And maybe even then feeling relatively secure as soon as they reach that next bar. But it's that time between trapezes that would bother me - that does bother me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Living Between Trapezes."
Now, that may be where you're living right now. One phase of your life is behind you; you're counting on a new one ahead. But right now you're in one of life's great "in between" times. So were the people God was advising in our word for today from the Word of God beginning in Jeremiah 29:5 .
The Jews are in a temporary spot between two permanent spots. They started in their homeland of Israel. They'll end up back in Israel, but right now they are experiencing the "in between" of captivity in Babylon. And God gives His instructions for people who are hanging there between trapezes. Listen. "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
The message to God's ancient people may be, in essence, what He wants to say to you today. When you're in between, don't hold back. Live as if you'll be there your whole life. In the words of missionary martyr Jim Elliott, "Wherever you are, be all there." God says, "Build... settle... plant... increase... work for the good of that place."
You may be saying, "But, Lord, this isn't where I want to be. I just want to get by until we get to our destination." Listen to this statement from verse 11 in the same chapter, Jeremiah 29 . "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" It seems that God's good plans for tomorrow come out of your living wholeheartedly today.
You may very well not be where you hope you'll end up. You're between jobs or in one that's just a stopgap. Maybe you're single hoping to be married, you're living in a temporary situation or you're waiting for some breakthrough. Like the Jews of old, you're in an "in between" place. But also like them, God expects you to build there, to plant, to increase, to improve it.
And as you do, you give God the attitude He can use to bring you to His very best. If you're in between trapezes right now, remember - this is a terrible place to lose your concentration. Bloom where you're planted. Be all you can be right where you are. Make the greatest possible difference you can there. It's the best way to end up safely at the destination that you want so much.
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Back to me: "Build... settle... plant... increase... work for the good of that place." I once heard a minister on the radio say “God never called us to be successful, just faithful”. None of this transition is going to matter 500 years into eternity, but the faithfulness will count for something. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite scripture. Eph 3:20 says “now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” That's almost the New Testament equivalent of Jer 29:11. I’m gonna let Him do His work as I go about doing His work, even if I feel like I'm in transition. I just want to stay faithful to Him, how about you?
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice!
jimmy
Have you ever felt lost in transition? I almost feel like I am in a perpetual stated of transition. Just when I finally feel like I’m hitting my flow it’s time for transition again. I think the worse is when we (Kesha & me) commit to a transition and a great position opens up, a position that we can’t fill because we’re in transition. I went on BibleGateway.com to find something on the subject of transition. It brought up this great article by Ron Hutchcraft. I have no idea who he is or how he is doing as a minister. I guess I could do a Wiki search but I half way trust Wikipedia as anyone can edit it. I’m just going to copy and post his article. I could try to re-write it but something would get lost. Speaking of editing I’m also going ahead and posting this without my editor's approval. Kesha is super busy and it may be weeks before she can look at it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And now, in the center ring, high above the big top..." Or something like that. When we took our kids to the circus, that was how the ringmaster would introduce those stars of the big show, those death-defying artists on the high trapeze. They're amazing! I mean, they leap with perfect poise and grace from one trapeze to another until they end up safe on that platform across the arena. Now, I can imagine someone with lots of practice eventually getting used to hanging onto a trapeze. And maybe even then feeling relatively secure as soon as they reach that next bar. But it's that time between trapezes that would bother me - that does bother me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Living Between Trapezes."
Now, that may be where you're living right now. One phase of your life is behind you; you're counting on a new one ahead. But right now you're in one of life's great "in between" times. So were the people God was advising in our word for today from the Word of God beginning in Jeremiah 29:5 .
The Jews are in a temporary spot between two permanent spots. They started in their homeland of Israel. They'll end up back in Israel, but right now they are experiencing the "in between" of captivity in Babylon. And God gives His instructions for people who are hanging there between trapezes. Listen. "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
The message to God's ancient people may be, in essence, what He wants to say to you today. When you're in between, don't hold back. Live as if you'll be there your whole life. In the words of missionary martyr Jim Elliott, "Wherever you are, be all there." God says, "Build... settle... plant... increase... work for the good of that place."
You may be saying, "But, Lord, this isn't where I want to be. I just want to get by until we get to our destination." Listen to this statement from verse 11 in the same chapter, Jeremiah 29 . "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" It seems that God's good plans for tomorrow come out of your living wholeheartedly today.
You may very well not be where you hope you'll end up. You're between jobs or in one that's just a stopgap. Maybe you're single hoping to be married, you're living in a temporary situation or you're waiting for some breakthrough. Like the Jews of old, you're in an "in between" place. But also like them, God expects you to build there, to plant, to increase, to improve it.
And as you do, you give God the attitude He can use to bring you to His very best. If you're in between trapezes right now, remember - this is a terrible place to lose your concentration. Bloom where you're planted. Be all you can be right where you are. Make the greatest possible difference you can there. It's the best way to end up safely at the destination that you want so much.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back to me: "Build... settle... plant... increase... work for the good of that place." I once heard a minister on the radio say “God never called us to be successful, just faithful”. None of this transition is going to matter 500 years into eternity, but the faithfulness will count for something. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite scripture. Eph 3:20 says “now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” That's almost the New Testament equivalent of Jer 29:11. I’m gonna let Him do His work as I go about doing His work, even if I feel like I'm in transition. I just want to stay faithful to Him, how about you?
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice!
jimmy
Are you one, or should we look for another?
For a few months now Kesha & I have been reading this awesome devotional. It’s called “Prescription for a Miracle” by Mark Brazee. A dear, dear friend gave it to us when we were in Tulsa just this last April. She had been reading it and actually started experiencing healing in her own life. She is a Type 1 Diabetic but because of what she has been learning in this devotional she is on the path of becoming a Type None Diabetic. Does that make sense? Her daily insulin requirement has been cut in half through her stand of faith over the past few months. In other words she is getting her healing. Needless to say, since we started reading this devo, most of my thoughts have been geared around healing. Just last night in the middle of a service a thought came to me, just like that. It was on John the Baptist’s challenging Jesus. That is found in Luke 7:18-30.
Let’s look at vs. 20 – 23
20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' " 21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
There is so much rich stuff in there; I think I could pull out 2 or 3 sermons out of those few scripts. But what struck me was Jesus’ answer. Vs. 22 says “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” Let’s get deep about this. Jesus basically said “you want proof well then here's your proof.” Now Gal 3:26 tells us “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Now I am no savior and that is for sure, but because of my Savior I am a child of God. Mark 16:17-18 says “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Look at those last 4 words: “they will get well”. If John’s disciples came to me and asked if I was one--not “the one” but one of those that followed Him-- could I answer the way Jesus answered? I want to. Not that I am seeking signs and wonders; I don’t want to have to seek. I want them to follow me. That is how the King James put it, “to follow”. The Amplified Bible puts it this way: “And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe”. I almost want to say that “signs and wonders” will seek me out if I am a follower of Christ. James 5:16b says “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” I want both. I don’t just want the powerful and I don’t just want effective; I want both. I don’t just want a “pseudo belief” in Christ. I want the real deal. I want to answer the way Jesus answered. I want to say (New King Jimmy Style)”They See, They Walk, Cancer Gone, They Hear, The Dead are no longer, And yes, I Tell Everyone about Christ.” I don’t want this for my own glory; I want this because there are people in my town, my city, my state, my nation, my world who simply need Christ. I want to answer just like Christ, do you?
Stay blessed, It’s your choice.
Let’s look at vs. 20 – 23
20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' " 21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
There is so much rich stuff in there; I think I could pull out 2 or 3 sermons out of those few scripts. But what struck me was Jesus’ answer. Vs. 22 says “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” Let’s get deep about this. Jesus basically said “you want proof well then here's your proof.” Now Gal 3:26 tells us “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Now I am no savior and that is for sure, but because of my Savior I am a child of God. Mark 16:17-18 says “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Look at those last 4 words: “they will get well”. If John’s disciples came to me and asked if I was one--not “the one” but one of those that followed Him-- could I answer the way Jesus answered? I want to. Not that I am seeking signs and wonders; I don’t want to have to seek. I want them to follow me. That is how the King James put it, “to follow”. The Amplified Bible puts it this way: “And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe”. I almost want to say that “signs and wonders” will seek me out if I am a follower of Christ. James 5:16b says “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” I want both. I don’t just want the powerful and I don’t just want effective; I want both. I don’t just want a “pseudo belief” in Christ. I want the real deal. I want to answer the way Jesus answered. I want to say (New King Jimmy Style)”They See, They Walk, Cancer Gone, They Hear, The Dead are no longer, And yes, I Tell Everyone about Christ.” I don’t want this for my own glory; I want this because there are people in my town, my city, my state, my nation, my world who simply need Christ. I want to answer just like Christ, do you?
Stay blessed, It’s your choice.
He is the true blessing
A little over a year ago my wife got me an IPod shuffle for my birthday. What a great present. I love my wife; she does such a great job on b-day presents for me. That is not the only reason why I love her; she’s also really, REALLY HOT! Ever since we’ve had the IPod, I’ve been downloading the books of the Bible Experience from ITunes. If you don’t know, the Bible Experience is a theatrical reading of the Bible. Zonderman pulled in a bunch of top actors to read different parts of the Bible. I love it. It is awesome! Since March ’08 I have downloaded the whole New Test and the books Genesis & Exodus. Next month will be Leviticus; can’t wait for that! The first book I started with was the Gospel of John. WOW! It was like John himself was telling me the story. I would listen to it while working out. Thank God I wrote down my reps because if not I would have been doing the same exercise for an hour. This thing was mesmerizing. As I would concentrate on what I was hearing I started to pick up on stuff in the Bible that I never took time on before. What I am about to share is one of those simple things that suddenly grabbed my attention.
We all know the story of the feeding of the 5000+. It’s found in books of John, Mark, & Matt. Since “John” was the 1st book I downloaded I’m going to run with his record of this story. John 6:1-14 is the feeding. In vrs. 15, Jesus went hiding because He knew what the 5000+ had in mind. Right after that Jesus decided to strut his stuff on the water; that’s found in verses 16-21. Now comes the key part for me. In verse 22 thru 24, the 5000+ who ate from the 5 SMALL loaves and 2 fish realized that Jesus had gone to the other side of the lake and they went searching for him. Wouldn’t you if you got that free meal? In vrs 25, the crowd caught up with Jesus and asked “Rabbi, when did you get here?” The thing that Jesus said in the verse 26 is what caught my attention; it’s something I never picked up on before. When I heard it I had to re-wind it a few times to make sure I heard what I thought I heard. Once I realized I had, I stop the IPod and started repenting for the same mistake that this crowd was guilty of. Before I go on we better read what Jesus said to the crowd. He said this: “I tell you the truth; you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” How many times have I had my fill and yet I go back to Jesus looking for my next fill. How many times have I been blessed just to turn around and ask for my next blessing? Is that what I’ve made Jesus out to be, someone who’s there to give me free hand outs? Am I guilty of that? YEAH! I am guilty of that. This sounds like an anti-faith statement but as long as we have breath we will have “needs” in our lives. Jesus didn’t die/raise again just to be our “genie in a bottle”. God knows we have needs, He said so. Before we even ask He knows our needs (Matt 6:8). The point is that Jesus is our true blessing. Jesus declared it further down in vrs 35 “I am the bread life”. Later on in John 6:53 Jesus said one of the craziest statements recorded in the Bible: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” CRAZY! John chapter 6 is one of the hardest chapters to swallow (pun intended). Verse 60 even declares that “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”. Right after this Jesus’ congregation count went from 5000+ back down to 12. If I heard that live I may have split too but the whole point is, like I said before, Jesus is the true blessing. Our needs will be met if we chase after Him, after His kingdom, He promised that. I just have a hard time relaxing in that at times. . . ok most of the time. We love to quote Philippians 4:19 (and my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus) when we’re in need but the reality is that script was written to a group of believers who were seeking the Kingdom first. Look it up for yourself. Read Phil 4:10-19. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t offer prayer requests. That’s not it at all. We’re suppose to let our prayer request be made known (Phil 4:6). The problem is that we chase after the supplies instead of the chasing the supplier. That’s hard to do when the supplies given are good and perfect (James 1:17). That’s alright; as long as the Lord delays His return we will have time to perfect our “chasing the supplier” skills.
The more I read John 6 the more I want to dive in. I love the Word of God. It’s so rich. A friend of mine once said that the Word of God is so shallow that you can wade in it but so deep that you will never reach the bottom. I love that. Catch y’all next time
Stay blessed, it’s your choice!
We all know the story of the feeding of the 5000+. It’s found in books of John, Mark, & Matt. Since “John” was the 1st book I downloaded I’m going to run with his record of this story. John 6:1-14 is the feeding. In vrs. 15, Jesus went hiding because He knew what the 5000+ had in mind. Right after that Jesus decided to strut his stuff on the water; that’s found in verses 16-21. Now comes the key part for me. In verse 22 thru 24, the 5000+ who ate from the 5 SMALL loaves and 2 fish realized that Jesus had gone to the other side of the lake and they went searching for him. Wouldn’t you if you got that free meal? In vrs 25, the crowd caught up with Jesus and asked “Rabbi, when did you get here?” The thing that Jesus said in the verse 26 is what caught my attention; it’s something I never picked up on before. When I heard it I had to re-wind it a few times to make sure I heard what I thought I heard. Once I realized I had, I stop the IPod and started repenting for the same mistake that this crowd was guilty of. Before I go on we better read what Jesus said to the crowd. He said this: “I tell you the truth; you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” How many times have I had my fill and yet I go back to Jesus looking for my next fill. How many times have I been blessed just to turn around and ask for my next blessing? Is that what I’ve made Jesus out to be, someone who’s there to give me free hand outs? Am I guilty of that? YEAH! I am guilty of that. This sounds like an anti-faith statement but as long as we have breath we will have “needs” in our lives. Jesus didn’t die/raise again just to be our “genie in a bottle”. God knows we have needs, He said so. Before we even ask He knows our needs (Matt 6:8). The point is that Jesus is our true blessing. Jesus declared it further down in vrs 35 “I am the bread life”. Later on in John 6:53 Jesus said one of the craziest statements recorded in the Bible: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” CRAZY! John chapter 6 is one of the hardest chapters to swallow (pun intended). Verse 60 even declares that “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”. Right after this Jesus’ congregation count went from 5000+ back down to 12. If I heard that live I may have split too but the whole point is, like I said before, Jesus is the true blessing. Our needs will be met if we chase after Him, after His kingdom, He promised that. I just have a hard time relaxing in that at times. . . ok most of the time. We love to quote Philippians 4:19 (and my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus) when we’re in need but the reality is that script was written to a group of believers who were seeking the Kingdom first. Look it up for yourself. Read Phil 4:10-19. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t offer prayer requests. That’s not it at all. We’re suppose to let our prayer request be made known (Phil 4:6). The problem is that we chase after the supplies instead of the chasing the supplier. That’s hard to do when the supplies given are good and perfect (James 1:17). That’s alright; as long as the Lord delays His return we will have time to perfect our “chasing the supplier” skills.
The more I read John 6 the more I want to dive in. I love the Word of God. It’s so rich. A friend of mine once said that the Word of God is so shallow that you can wade in it but so deep that you will never reach the bottom. I love that. Catch y’all next time
Stay blessed, it’s your choice!
The most powerful 2 scriptures in the Bible.
Debatable, maybe, but they sure do seem powerful enough. The 2 scriptures I’m talking about I mentioned in my last blog. Yep, another cliff hanger! I know some who read this (Dave) hate cliff hangers. Oh well, I gotta keep these entries short some how. Maybe one day I’ll write a book, but this is as close as I’m going to get to book writing right now. So, the most powerful 2 scriptures, they are found in the first Ephesians prayer. The full 1st prayer is Ephesians 1:17-23. Through some wise advice from Kenneth E. Hagin’s book “Faith Food Devotions” yep, I’m holding strong to my word of faith roots) Kesha & I have been taking out the “you” in the prayer and replacing it with love ones’ names. So it would go like this Eph1: “17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give {love ones’names} the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that {love ones’ names} may know him better….so on and so forth…” It’s also good to go through that prayer with your own name in there. But anyway the power packed scripts are right in the middle of that prayer. They are verses 19 & 20. I might have never caught onto this if I had not been doing this Ephesians study. My pastor in Tulsa did this Ephesians study called “Our Blueprint for Maturity”. This study is stacked. There is so much info in it, well, not just info but great and awesome info. Pastor Bob could make 20 sermons out of “Jesus Wept”. Seriously, the dude is brilliant. Anyway he really brought this point to light so the following is really from his study with a bit of “Jimmy Kick” to it. There are 5 Greek words for Power. Here they are and their meanings: 1. Dunamis – “inherent power”, 2. Energeia – “outward” or “overt power”, 3. Kratos – “ruling power”, 4. Ischus – “endowed power”, and 5. Exeusia – “authority”. The first 4 Greek “power” words are used in verse 19. Eph 1:19 "and his incomparably great [dunamis - “inherent power”] power for us who believe. That [energeia -“overt power”] power is like the working of his [kratos - “ruling power”] mighty [ischus -“endowed power”] strength.” Like Pastor Bob says, that is literally the most powerful verse in the New Testament--I would debate that it is the most powerful verse in the whole Bible. But now add verse 19 to 20. Ephesians 1: 19 "and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” That is a whole lot of power being used at one time. Like I said in the previous blog entry (cliffhanger), that was more power than what was used at creation. Psalm 8:3 tells us that God used His fingers when He created the stars and the universe. Hebrews 1:10 says that God used His hands when He molded the earth. But in the Isaiah 53 prophesy it tells us God busted out the full gun at the crucifixion. In Isaiah 53:1 it says “to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” That’s right, when it came to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, God showed the whole “gun” (arm) and guess who had tickets? Colossians 2:15 tells us that Christ spoiled principalities and powers; He made an open joke of them. Colossians 2:15 is just an awesome script, it’s the ultimate punkin' of the Devil. Going back to what the beginning of vrs 19 says, “and his incomparably great power for us who believe,” all the power that was displayed at the resurrection is for “US” who believe. More power than what was displayed at creation is for us now! WOW! We who believe have God’s gun cocked, locked, and ready to pull the trigger. Now that is awesome and that is only a part of the whole prayer. Like Pop Hagin advised, add your name or your love ones name in that prayer. Below I put the prayer but I placed my name in it. As you read it think about what it says, the bonus is since I threw my name in there you will be praying it over me. Awesome stuff!!
Eph1: “17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give JIMMY the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that JIMMY may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of JIMMY’S heart may be enlightened in order that JIMMY may know the hope to which he has called JIMMY, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for JIMMY who believes. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
Eph1: “17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give JIMMY the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that JIMMY may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of JIMMY’S heart may be enlightened in order that JIMMY may know the hope to which he has called JIMMY, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for JIMMY who believes. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
Only One has done that for me!
Sorry for the delay, March was one busy month. We had a family vacation to San Fran, Kesha had mock boards, mix in our anniversary and my b-day. March has to be one of my favorite months because of my b-day and anniversary. Anyway I also got to preach @ Cultivate Youth Church so that took some time away from the blog. What a blast! I absolutely love preaching God’s word. This blog is a cool outlet, but I don’t really get to see who reads it. With preaching, the crowd is right there and I can tell by their faces if it’s good or not. Anyway I’m back in the saddle and ready to bang out some “Busted Thoughts”.
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Heading into Easter Weekend we are going to hear that scripture a lot. It really is an awesome statement but stop to think about it. A lot of people have laid down their lives for us. All those in the military are laying down their lives everyday for us. That really hit home the day that I swore into the Air Force. As I took that oath, I realized my life no longer belonged to me. I became the property of the U.S Government. For 8 years my life was laid down for freedom. During the Civil War my great – however long ago- great- grandfather died as a Union soldier fighting for the cause of setting my wife’s great –how ever long ago- great grandparents free from slavery. He laid his life down for someone he had never met. He laid down his life so that now, nearly 150 years later, Kesha and I are free to be married without being considered criminals. My story and my family’s story are just very small drops in a huge bucket of the stories of those who have and are laying down their lives for others. It’s always good to stop and say thanks for those actions. (Don’t respond to this blog entry thanking me for any service, I’ve already received plenty enough.) But with my next statement I want us to really think about this coming weekend. Many have laid down their lives for us, BUT ONLY ONE RAISED FROM THE DEAD FOR US. Look @ what Romans 10:9-10 says: “9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” There was a religious group combing through our neighborhood this last weekend. This time they did not stop @ my house for whatever reason but usually they invite people to come celebrate the death of Jesus but say nothing about His resurrection. Do you realize that if Jesus stayed dead we would have no life? Sure for joy He endured the cross, Heb 12:2 tells us that, but the joy was not in the cross but in the victory over death. Last time I checked the gospels during the crucifixion he never yelled out “thank you sir may I have another”. I want to celebrate His raising, His victory, our victory. The next blog I’m going to cover Ephesians 1:19-20 more deeply but for now I’m just going to scratch the surface. Here are the scripts: “19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms”. Those 2 scriptures quite possible could be the most powerful scriptures in the whole Bible. Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself, I’ll save that for the next entry. So to scratch the surface of Eph 1:19-20, more power was exerted with the resurrection of Jesus than at creation. I have to admit that sounds strange at first but listen, there was no reason for Lucifer (Satan. . . he got his new name @ the fatal fruit buffet) to try to stop Creation. There was no reason for Lucifer to try to stop Adam and Eve from being created because he, Lucifer, had not yet learned that Eve’s seed would stomp on his head. But Satan and & hell had every reason to try to stop Jesus’ resurrection. It’s with that resurrection I have life. It’s with that resurrection I have salvation. It’s with that resurrection I have eternal fellowship with God. Many thanks to those who laid down their lives for us, but THANK GOD FOR THE ONE THAT RAISED FROM THE DEAD FOR US. THANK YOU JESUS!
Side note: when you hear this weekend “Greater love has no one than this” remember Jesus laid down His own life in ABSOLUTE LOVE.
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
jimmy
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Heading into Easter Weekend we are going to hear that scripture a lot. It really is an awesome statement but stop to think about it. A lot of people have laid down their lives for us. All those in the military are laying down their lives everyday for us. That really hit home the day that I swore into the Air Force. As I took that oath, I realized my life no longer belonged to me. I became the property of the U.S Government. For 8 years my life was laid down for freedom. During the Civil War my great – however long ago- great- grandfather died as a Union soldier fighting for the cause of setting my wife’s great –how ever long ago- great grandparents free from slavery. He laid his life down for someone he had never met. He laid down his life so that now, nearly 150 years later, Kesha and I are free to be married without being considered criminals. My story and my family’s story are just very small drops in a huge bucket of the stories of those who have and are laying down their lives for others. It’s always good to stop and say thanks for those actions. (Don’t respond to this blog entry thanking me for any service, I’ve already received plenty enough.) But with my next statement I want us to really think about this coming weekend. Many have laid down their lives for us, BUT ONLY ONE RAISED FROM THE DEAD FOR US. Look @ what Romans 10:9-10 says: “9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” There was a religious group combing through our neighborhood this last weekend. This time they did not stop @ my house for whatever reason but usually they invite people to come celebrate the death of Jesus but say nothing about His resurrection. Do you realize that if Jesus stayed dead we would have no life? Sure for joy He endured the cross, Heb 12:2 tells us that, but the joy was not in the cross but in the victory over death. Last time I checked the gospels during the crucifixion he never yelled out “thank you sir may I have another”. I want to celebrate His raising, His victory, our victory. The next blog I’m going to cover Ephesians 1:19-20 more deeply but for now I’m just going to scratch the surface. Here are the scripts: “19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms”. Those 2 scriptures quite possible could be the most powerful scriptures in the whole Bible. Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself, I’ll save that for the next entry. So to scratch the surface of Eph 1:19-20, more power was exerted with the resurrection of Jesus than at creation. I have to admit that sounds strange at first but listen, there was no reason for Lucifer (Satan. . . he got his new name @ the fatal fruit buffet) to try to stop Creation. There was no reason for Lucifer to try to stop Adam and Eve from being created because he, Lucifer, had not yet learned that Eve’s seed would stomp on his head. But Satan and & hell had every reason to try to stop Jesus’ resurrection. It’s with that resurrection I have life. It’s with that resurrection I have salvation. It’s with that resurrection I have eternal fellowship with God. Many thanks to those who laid down their lives for us, but THANK GOD FOR THE ONE THAT RAISED FROM THE DEAD FOR US. THANK YOU JESUS!
Side note: when you hear this weekend “Greater love has no one than this” remember Jesus laid down His own life in ABSOLUTE LOVE.
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
jimmy
Givin’ Them a Show! Part 2
Back to Heb 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Last time we talked about the “Great Cloud of Witnesses”. We discovered that it’s not a bunch a people sitting on cartoon clouds strumming harps but Saints like Moses, Abraham, & many more jam packed into the heavenly bleachers watching & cheering us on. That’s where the title “Givin’ Them a Show!” came in. But now comes the question “What is that show?” Did you watch the summer Olympics? Did you see Jamaica’s Usain Bolt? Many in the world tuned in to see him run. That dude is insane; he is crazy fast. He put on a show and the whole world was watching. I loved it. He was so far ahead of the others that he actually cruised into the finish line. I know everyone watched Michael Phelps, but if you didn’t see Usain run, then try to find it on YouTube. A dude that tall should not have been able to run that fast. The Olympics are long since done but our show continues. Here’s what the show is: Heb 12:1 says we’re in a race; that’s the race of life. Look at what Paul said in 2nd Tim 4:7, “I have finished the race”. What a show Paul put on for those in the nose bleed section. Paul wrote that @ the end of his life, his race was completed. The peeps who are watching in the stands, they finished their races. It’s crazy for me to think that Paul, PAUL, is now watching me run the race of life. Not only is he watching but he’s cheering me on. I’m not getting into Saint Worship here; I’m just saying there are some very powerful people in Heaven watching us do this Life Race.
Heb 12:1-2 gives us 3 keys to running/winning this Life Race properly. Yeah I know; I didn’t include verse 2 till now. Here they are together and I will underline the 3 keys. “Heb 3:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The 1st key: “throw off”. This first part really has 2 elements, but we tend to focus in on just one of them. We always focus in on the “sin that so easily entangles” but that’s second to throwing off “everything that hinders us”. Some may argue that sin hinders us but look at the script again. “Let us throw off everything that hinders AND the sin that so easily entangles” [emphasis mine]. Looks to me like they are separated. It looks like sin is not the only thing that hinders us. Look at what Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14 (another sport/race reference) “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” I have heard more then a few pastors talk about this subject but it could always be restated. Your past church/life experiences (good or bad) are just that, in the past. Let them go, or like what Heb 12:1 says “throw off” those things. I had some great past church experiences, but they are in the past. I want to press forward toward the goal that God has set for me.
The 2nd key: “Run”, but that’s not alone. It’s really to “run with perseverance the race . . .” The word “perseverance” really caught my attention. Look at how the Amplified put this: “Let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us.” Roller coasters are cool at amusement parks but a roller coaster Christian life style is not so amusing. Something else in the 2nd key caught my attention as well. It’s the fact that the race is marked out for us. We are not running aimlessly and we all have our own race. Usain didn’t win his gold medals on the marathon path or the bike course, but on the track made for the sprint races. Eph 2:10 tells us that God has prepared for us to do good works. In other words, he has prepared a race path marked out for us.
The 3rd key: “Fix” This is so key, no pun intended. While watching the track & field portion of the Olympics, I remember hearing the commentator state how important it was for the runner to keep looking forward. If they looked around then they would slow down. Theologians disagree on who wrote Hebrews. The popular choice is Paul, but I wonder if Peter had some input on verse 2. Remember Peter walked on water; he didn’t start to sink until he took his focus off of Jesus. Look @ Matt 14:29-30 “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" If you only read the NIV then you would wonder how Peter saw the wind. The Amplified translation states this better by saying “but when he perceived and felt the strong wind”. Now in the water walking story it never says that Peter had his physical eyes on or off of Jesus. Jesus just asked Peter why he doubted. Likewise in Heb 12:1& 2, you can’t really just fix your physical eyes on Jesus, but you can fix your faith on Him. One of my favorite phrases in the Bible is said here in Heb 12:2 “2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith”.
Throw, run, and fix. Sounds like an Olympic event. Sounds like an event I want to win the gold in.
Stay Blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
Heb 12:1-2 gives us 3 keys to running/winning this Life Race properly. Yeah I know; I didn’t include verse 2 till now. Here they are together and I will underline the 3 keys. “Heb 3:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The 1st key: “throw off”. This first part really has 2 elements, but we tend to focus in on just one of them. We always focus in on the “sin that so easily entangles” but that’s second to throwing off “everything that hinders us”. Some may argue that sin hinders us but look at the script again. “Let us throw off everything that hinders AND the sin that so easily entangles” [emphasis mine]. Looks to me like they are separated. It looks like sin is not the only thing that hinders us. Look at what Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14 (another sport/race reference) “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” I have heard more then a few pastors talk about this subject but it could always be restated. Your past church/life experiences (good or bad) are just that, in the past. Let them go, or like what Heb 12:1 says “throw off” those things. I had some great past church experiences, but they are in the past. I want to press forward toward the goal that God has set for me.
The 2nd key: “Run”, but that’s not alone. It’s really to “run with perseverance the race . . .” The word “perseverance” really caught my attention. Look at how the Amplified put this: “Let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us.” Roller coasters are cool at amusement parks but a roller coaster Christian life style is not so amusing. Something else in the 2nd key caught my attention as well. It’s the fact that the race is marked out for us. We are not running aimlessly and we all have our own race. Usain didn’t win his gold medals on the marathon path or the bike course, but on the track made for the sprint races. Eph 2:10 tells us that God has prepared for us to do good works. In other words, he has prepared a race path marked out for us.
The 3rd key: “Fix” This is so key, no pun intended. While watching the track & field portion of the Olympics, I remember hearing the commentator state how important it was for the runner to keep looking forward. If they looked around then they would slow down. Theologians disagree on who wrote Hebrews. The popular choice is Paul, but I wonder if Peter had some input on verse 2. Remember Peter walked on water; he didn’t start to sink until he took his focus off of Jesus. Look @ Matt 14:29-30 “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" If you only read the NIV then you would wonder how Peter saw the wind. The Amplified translation states this better by saying “but when he perceived and felt the strong wind”. Now in the water walking story it never says that Peter had his physical eyes on or off of Jesus. Jesus just asked Peter why he doubted. Likewise in Heb 12:1& 2, you can’t really just fix your physical eyes on Jesus, but you can fix your faith on Him. One of my favorite phrases in the Bible is said here in Heb 12:2 “2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith”.
Throw, run, and fix. Sounds like an Olympic event. Sounds like an event I want to win the gold in.
Stay Blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
Givin’ them a Show!
I was recently pulling out some old cd’s. I came across one of my favorites. Passion Revolution, songs from ONEDAY 03. There are only 2 songs on there that I can do without. All the others are awesome. Chris Tomlin’s “Take My Life” brings me to tears and a deeper urgency of commitment.
Staying on that same vein, I just finished reading “John’s Story, The Last Eyewitness” by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins. Wow, wow, I just have to say. . . WOW! What a great book. I totally felt convicted while I was reading it. Nah, not convicted, maybe driven to a greater commitment . . . that’s not really capturing my thoughts either. I never really comprehended what it would have been like for John on the isle of Patmos till I read this book. When ever I think of islands I think of the Caribbean, maybe because I’ve been there a few times. I would like to suffer for God in the Caribbean. Patmos is in the Mediterranean. I hung out in the Med for a few years when I was stationed in Italy. I’ve been to the Isle of Capri but that’s really an unredeemed story from the past so I won’t finish telling it. Back in John’s day Patmos was not a vacation haven, he wasn’t sent there to relax. Being raised in the “Word of Faith” movement I am so use to talking about going from glory to glory. In that I lose touch of the suffering that took place just to get the gospel out, the persecution that was dealt to those who penned phrases like ‘We are more than conquerors” or “resist the devil and he will flee”. I’m not volunteering to suffer or be persecuted, but I’m not backing down either. Heb 12:1 talks about the Great Cloud of Witnesses. The 1st generation church is now in that cloud. Let’s look at that scripture. Hebrews 12:1. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Whenever I read that I instantly think of Peter, Paul, John, & others sitting on big puffy marshmallow clouds playing harps and looking down every once in awhile. That’s not really what Heb 12:1 is talking about. The Greek word for cloud is nephos. It does carry the meaning of cloud but it also has another meaning. In ol’Greek times the word “cloud” was used to describe what we now call “the nose bleed” section of a stadium. Heb 12:1 says we’re surrounded all the way up in the “nose bleed section” by of those who went on before us. The word surrounded is taken from the Greek word “peikeimenai”. This word means something is piled high and on all sides of us. The best of what I can compare this to is the student section of Kinnick Stadium at the University o f Iowa. In ’02 my dad came up to Iowa to visit some family. Kesha and I took him to the Iowa/Michigan game. I waited too long to buy tickets and the only seats left were in the student section. The student section is crazy!! It is packed in there tighter than tight. Plus the only way to actually see the game is to stand on the bleachers because no one in that section sits, ever! I remember a fight broke out right behind us. I instantly jumped in the middle of these 2 knuckle heads to stop it because if they continued then the whole section would have fell. You would have heard about it on the news. That’s right, I stopped a potential tragedy; I’m something of a super hero! The next year when Mom & Dad came up they made sure that I bought tickets earlier and that it was as far a possible from the student section. Ever since then, when I read Heb 12:1 I think of the student section at Kinnick Stadium, heavenly saints stacked tighter than tight, standing on the bleacher s just to see me win. I’m gonna give them a show, not for the glory of me, but for the glory of God. This next statement might sound super prideful but really give it some thought. We are better equipped and better prepared than the saints before us. We have no reason to lose. We are better equipped because of their sacrifice to get the Gospel out. We are better prepared because of the life lessons that they taught both by word and action. We have no reason to lose. We have no reason to quit. Let’s give them a show, let’s give them something to cheer for. Let’s show them that the persecution they endured was not in vain. Most of all let’s do it for the same reason they did, all for the Glory of God.
Stay Blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
Staying on that same vein, I just finished reading “John’s Story, The Last Eyewitness” by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins. Wow, wow, I just have to say. . . WOW! What a great book. I totally felt convicted while I was reading it. Nah, not convicted, maybe driven to a greater commitment . . . that’s not really capturing my thoughts either. I never really comprehended what it would have been like for John on the isle of Patmos till I read this book. When ever I think of islands I think of the Caribbean, maybe because I’ve been there a few times. I would like to suffer for God in the Caribbean. Patmos is in the Mediterranean. I hung out in the Med for a few years when I was stationed in Italy. I’ve been to the Isle of Capri but that’s really an unredeemed story from the past so I won’t finish telling it. Back in John’s day Patmos was not a vacation haven, he wasn’t sent there to relax. Being raised in the “Word of Faith” movement I am so use to talking about going from glory to glory. In that I lose touch of the suffering that took place just to get the gospel out, the persecution that was dealt to those who penned phrases like ‘We are more than conquerors” or “resist the devil and he will flee”. I’m not volunteering to suffer or be persecuted, but I’m not backing down either. Heb 12:1 talks about the Great Cloud of Witnesses. The 1st generation church is now in that cloud. Let’s look at that scripture. Hebrews 12:1. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Whenever I read that I instantly think of Peter, Paul, John, & others sitting on big puffy marshmallow clouds playing harps and looking down every once in awhile. That’s not really what Heb 12:1 is talking about. The Greek word for cloud is nephos. It does carry the meaning of cloud but it also has another meaning. In ol’Greek times the word “cloud” was used to describe what we now call “the nose bleed” section of a stadium. Heb 12:1 says we’re surrounded all the way up in the “nose bleed section” by of those who went on before us. The word surrounded is taken from the Greek word “peikeimenai”. This word means something is piled high and on all sides of us. The best of what I can compare this to is the student section of Kinnick Stadium at the University o f Iowa. In ’02 my dad came up to Iowa to visit some family. Kesha and I took him to the Iowa/Michigan game. I waited too long to buy tickets and the only seats left were in the student section. The student section is crazy!! It is packed in there tighter than tight. Plus the only way to actually see the game is to stand on the bleachers because no one in that section sits, ever! I remember a fight broke out right behind us. I instantly jumped in the middle of these 2 knuckle heads to stop it because if they continued then the whole section would have fell. You would have heard about it on the news. That’s right, I stopped a potential tragedy; I’m something of a super hero! The next year when Mom & Dad came up they made sure that I bought tickets earlier and that it was as far a possible from the student section. Ever since then, when I read Heb 12:1 I think of the student section at Kinnick Stadium, heavenly saints stacked tighter than tight, standing on the bleacher s just to see me win. I’m gonna give them a show, not for the glory of me, but for the glory of God. This next statement might sound super prideful but really give it some thought. We are better equipped and better prepared than the saints before us. We have no reason to lose. We are better equipped because of their sacrifice to get the Gospel out. We are better prepared because of the life lessons that they taught both by word and action. We have no reason to lose. We have no reason to quit. Let’s give them a show, let’s give them something to cheer for. Let’s show them that the persecution they endured was not in vain. Most of all let’s do it for the same reason they did, all for the Glory of God.
Stay Blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
Don’t miss your moment.
Don’t miss your moment.
I am finally getting back to this blog. Life has just been plain busy. With Sasha in house now, making it thru the holidays, and an emergency trip to Tulsa I haven’t had time to get back to this blog. Kesha went back to work this week and I am proud to say that I made it out alive. I’m figuring out Sasha’s schedule and just about have it down pat. It’s pretty much: Eat, Sleep, change diaper; but you have to throw in there dealing with Saige, the dogs, dishes, and keeping the house somewhat clean. I’m just glad I made it thru the 1st week.
Our pastor, here in Birm, sent something out to all of us that shows us no matter what we don’t want to miss our moment At our church we do something called AOLs (Acts of Love). AOLs remind us to do things, well, Christ-like. I better show you what he sent out before I muck it up with to many words.
From Pastor Pat Schatzline @ www.thesummitbham.com
“I have to tell you what happened a couple of days ago as I was on a flight to CO to speak at a conference. It was an AOL moment. While sitting on the plane watching our new president being sworn in I noticed the flight attendant was missing out. He was a large African American man doing his best to watch the T.V.’s on the screens as he moved down the aisle. As he approached me towards the back of the plane time was drawing nearing for the swearing in ceremony of President Elect Obama
The plane had satellite on it so everyone was watching. Just as the flight attendant got beside me to offer a snack I took off my head phones. I asked him if he would like to lean and share a head set to not miss the moment. He smiled and leaned in and took my other ear piece. Together we watched the 30 sec. swearing in. When it was complete he looked at me with tears rolling down his face and said, “When I get off this flight I have to call my wife and tell her that a white guy and a black guy watched history in the making together.” He then said, “Wow has our nation changed.” It was such a neat moment. Folks that is what it is all about. We are one nation under God! Regardless of your political beliefs it must not be discounted what took place on Tuesday. The walls of racism fell farther to the ground! Acts of love must be our DNA! We are called to be “Body Doubles.”
Back to me:
Don’t miss your moment. Yeah we all may not agree with President Obama’s policies, and the federal funds being released back to abortion clinics does make me cringe, but let us not miss our moment to reach out. Politically speaking, when things don’t go the way that the Religious Right wants it to go, the reactions reminds me of the disciples in Luke 9:51-56. “51. As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53. but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" 55. But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56. and they went to another village.” The disciples wanted to call down fire but look at who got fired upon. Why in Luke 10, the very next chapter, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Not only did that burn in the Pharisees ears but it must have burned in the disciples ears too because they, not to long ago, were just trying to call down fire onto a Samaritan village. Maybe if Jesus was sharing that same story here in America he wouldn’t use a Samaritan as the subject of the story but a “Leftist Liberal”. I’ve heard plenty of people wanting to “call down fire” but let us not be guilty of such because it may just be us that get rebuked by our Lord.
I challenge you today to watch how you walk, how you talk. Remember the love of God leads all to repentance (Rms 2:4). [That’s another subject for another blog entry.] If you don’t agree with our current President’s policies then pray for him. Look, if God can get Daniel into Nebuchadnezzar’s ear and Joseph in 2nd command to Pharaoh then getting Godly voices into President Obama’s ears is not a problem. 1st Tim 2:1-4 instructs us to pray and how to pray for our leaders. Let me back up, it doesn’t instruct us but actually urges us to pray for our leaders. Here, just read: “1. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2. for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4. who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Look @ what verse 3 says. “This is good, and pleases God our Savior”. All I want to do lately is please and have fellowship with God. Here is a great starting point.
On a personal note, last Tuesday was a great day for the Buster household. I’ve always been proud to be an American and even gave 8 years of my life to the military for this nation, but last Tuesday I was never prouder to be called an American. It was great to see a man that looks so different than the previous presidents take the top office of this fine nation. With Kesha and me being a “mixed couple” living in the “Deep South” we see the deathly grip of racism. Martin Luther King targeted the very area that we live in as a battle field to end injustice. No, President Obama is not a savior, but he has become a symbol of hope. For my 2 little girls, walls have been broken down, walls that may have hindered their future. God bless America and may He continue to do so…
I am finally getting back to this blog. Life has just been plain busy. With Sasha in house now, making it thru the holidays, and an emergency trip to Tulsa I haven’t had time to get back to this blog. Kesha went back to work this week and I am proud to say that I made it out alive. I’m figuring out Sasha’s schedule and just about have it down pat. It’s pretty much: Eat, Sleep, change diaper; but you have to throw in there dealing with Saige, the dogs, dishes, and keeping the house somewhat clean. I’m just glad I made it thru the 1st week.
Our pastor, here in Birm, sent something out to all of us that shows us no matter what we don’t want to miss our moment At our church we do something called AOLs (Acts of Love). AOLs remind us to do things, well, Christ-like. I better show you what he sent out before I muck it up with to many words.
From Pastor Pat Schatzline @ www.thesummitbham.com
“I have to tell you what happened a couple of days ago as I was on a flight to CO to speak at a conference. It was an AOL moment. While sitting on the plane watching our new president being sworn in I noticed the flight attendant was missing out. He was a large African American man doing his best to watch the T.V.’s on the screens as he moved down the aisle. As he approached me towards the back of the plane time was drawing nearing for the swearing in ceremony of President Elect Obama
The plane had satellite on it so everyone was watching. Just as the flight attendant got beside me to offer a snack I took off my head phones. I asked him if he would like to lean and share a head set to not miss the moment. He smiled and leaned in and took my other ear piece. Together we watched the 30 sec. swearing in. When it was complete he looked at me with tears rolling down his face and said, “When I get off this flight I have to call my wife and tell her that a white guy and a black guy watched history in the making together.” He then said, “Wow has our nation changed.” It was such a neat moment. Folks that is what it is all about. We are one nation under God! Regardless of your political beliefs it must not be discounted what took place on Tuesday. The walls of racism fell farther to the ground! Acts of love must be our DNA! We are called to be “Body Doubles.”
Back to me:
Don’t miss your moment. Yeah we all may not agree with President Obama’s policies, and the federal funds being released back to abortion clinics does make me cringe, but let us not miss our moment to reach out. Politically speaking, when things don’t go the way that the Religious Right wants it to go, the reactions reminds me of the disciples in Luke 9:51-56. “51. As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53. but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" 55. But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56. and they went to another village.” The disciples wanted to call down fire but look at who got fired upon. Why in Luke 10, the very next chapter, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Not only did that burn in the Pharisees ears but it must have burned in the disciples ears too because they, not to long ago, were just trying to call down fire onto a Samaritan village. Maybe if Jesus was sharing that same story here in America he wouldn’t use a Samaritan as the subject of the story but a “Leftist Liberal”. I’ve heard plenty of people wanting to “call down fire” but let us not be guilty of such because it may just be us that get rebuked by our Lord.
I challenge you today to watch how you walk, how you talk. Remember the love of God leads all to repentance (Rms 2:4). [That’s another subject for another blog entry.] If you don’t agree with our current President’s policies then pray for him. Look, if God can get Daniel into Nebuchadnezzar’s ear and Joseph in 2nd command to Pharaoh then getting Godly voices into President Obama’s ears is not a problem. 1st Tim 2:1-4 instructs us to pray and how to pray for our leaders. Let me back up, it doesn’t instruct us but actually urges us to pray for our leaders. Here, just read: “1. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2. for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4. who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Look @ what verse 3 says. “This is good, and pleases God our Savior”. All I want to do lately is please and have fellowship with God. Here is a great starting point.
On a personal note, last Tuesday was a great day for the Buster household. I’ve always been proud to be an American and even gave 8 years of my life to the military for this nation, but last Tuesday I was never prouder to be called an American. It was great to see a man that looks so different than the previous presidents take the top office of this fine nation. With Kesha and me being a “mixed couple” living in the “Deep South” we see the deathly grip of racism. Martin Luther King targeted the very area that we live in as a battle field to end injustice. No, President Obama is not a savior, but he has become a symbol of hope. For my 2 little girls, walls have been broken down, walls that may have hindered their future. God bless America and may He continue to do so…
How being a daddy helps me understand my Heavenly Dad
Being a Daddy help me understand Heavenly Daddy.
I’m having a tough time putting this into proper words. I’m not an author, never tried to be. Like I said in my 1st blog entry, I always did better in Gym class then Grammar. My old pastor in Iowa once said he loved the way I wrote articles for our Youth Paper; he said the way I wrote was just like as if I was talking to you in person. I don’t know if that was a compliment or a slight suggestion for me to take a creative writing class. He once said that he admired how I showed my wife love by being willing to be late for church. I think that was his way of telling me to be on time. Anyway below is the best I could do for the moment. Maybe one day I’ll take that writing class so I can express the following better.
Sasha Grace was born on Wednesday Dec 3rd, 2008. She’s the newest Buster born into this wonderful world. She came out at 10:14am. Kesha had a pretty short labor, a little less then 4 hours but it seemed like it lasted forever. Kesha is such a Wonder Woman. The last few minutes before 1014 I felt the craziest, coolest rush that I’ve only felt one other time, that would when Saige was born. I remember Kesha bearing down and pushing with all she had. I remember how my heart felt, forget that, I remember how my whole chest felt. It was about to explode. When Sasha’s head popped out there was an extreme amount of emotions flooding all over me. I was ready to cry, laugh, shout, jump, or whatever. I remember hearing her cry for the first time. WOW. Being a parent is so awesome. There are so many “WOW” moments involved with being a parent. The birthing process has to be right up there as one of the best “WOW” moments. The Sunday following Sasha’s birth I ran Saige up to church. Our church here in Birm is about 35 minutes away so I had a lot of thinking time on my hands. On the way I was reflecting on the whole birth process and the emotions that go with it. My thoughts switched from how I felt on that magical Wednesday to how God must feel about the whole Spiritual birthing process. What does God feel in the moments right before He knows we are about to pray the salvation prayer? Is His chest ready to explode? Are there tears of excitement gushing out of His eyes? I don’t remember the exact day that I prayed the salvation prayer but I bet He has all that stuff going on, but I wonder if He remembers it with such fondness as I do with both of my daughters’ births. Sure He does. Jesus gave us a glimpse into the character of our Heavenly daddy when He told the story of the prodigal son. The whole parable is found in Luke 15:11-32. I’m not going to type all of it out here, you can go back and read that for yourselves. I just want to bring out one verse here. In this verse you see God’s parental emotions in full effect. You see His love and anticipation for us. I know this is a story about a son returning from his mistakes but I believe the reaction of a loving parent is all the same. In verse 20 there are 5 words that stick out further then any other words in all of Luke 15:11-32. Those 5 words are “He ran to His son”. I don’t remember the exact day in 79 when I was born again/spiritually born. I know I was about 5. It was at Westside Assembly of God. I remember Pastor Barnett gave the alter call but it was my dad that prayed the salvation prayer with me. I remember I raised my hand and the preacher called all those who did so to come to the front. When I started to go my dad jumped out to go with me. I remember thinking that it looked like my dad was answering the call. I knew that was not the case but I didn’t want every one else thinking that he was. Dad didn’t care; he was going up with his boy to lead him/me to Christ. My dad will always be a hero to me for what he did that day. Like I said, I don’t remember the exact day in 79. When your 5 growing up in church you answer about every alter call but that one sticks out the most to me. I do remember December 6th 1996. For about 4 years after high school I ran from the things of God. My life pretty much resembled the prodigal son. That December Sunday morning at East Coast Christian Center in Merritt Island Florida I gave my life back to Christ. I remembered the way I cried, much like a new born. Luke 15:20 tells me how my Heavenly Dad reacted on Dec 6th 1996 around 11am. “He ran…”
I’m having a tough time putting this into proper words. I’m not an author, never tried to be. Like I said in my 1st blog entry, I always did better in Gym class then Grammar. My old pastor in Iowa once said he loved the way I wrote articles for our Youth Paper; he said the way I wrote was just like as if I was talking to you in person. I don’t know if that was a compliment or a slight suggestion for me to take a creative writing class. He once said that he admired how I showed my wife love by being willing to be late for church. I think that was his way of telling me to be on time. Anyway below is the best I could do for the moment. Maybe one day I’ll take that writing class so I can express the following better.
Sasha Grace was born on Wednesday Dec 3rd, 2008. She’s the newest Buster born into this wonderful world. She came out at 10:14am. Kesha had a pretty short labor, a little less then 4 hours but it seemed like it lasted forever. Kesha is such a Wonder Woman. The last few minutes before 1014 I felt the craziest, coolest rush that I’ve only felt one other time, that would when Saige was born. I remember Kesha bearing down and pushing with all she had. I remember how my heart felt, forget that, I remember how my whole chest felt. It was about to explode. When Sasha’s head popped out there was an extreme amount of emotions flooding all over me. I was ready to cry, laugh, shout, jump, or whatever. I remember hearing her cry for the first time. WOW. Being a parent is so awesome. There are so many “WOW” moments involved with being a parent. The birthing process has to be right up there as one of the best “WOW” moments. The Sunday following Sasha’s birth I ran Saige up to church. Our church here in Birm is about 35 minutes away so I had a lot of thinking time on my hands. On the way I was reflecting on the whole birth process and the emotions that go with it. My thoughts switched from how I felt on that magical Wednesday to how God must feel about the whole Spiritual birthing process. What does God feel in the moments right before He knows we are about to pray the salvation prayer? Is His chest ready to explode? Are there tears of excitement gushing out of His eyes? I don’t remember the exact day that I prayed the salvation prayer but I bet He has all that stuff going on, but I wonder if He remembers it with such fondness as I do with both of my daughters’ births. Sure He does. Jesus gave us a glimpse into the character of our Heavenly daddy when He told the story of the prodigal son. The whole parable is found in Luke 15:11-32. I’m not going to type all of it out here, you can go back and read that for yourselves. I just want to bring out one verse here. In this verse you see God’s parental emotions in full effect. You see His love and anticipation for us. I know this is a story about a son returning from his mistakes but I believe the reaction of a loving parent is all the same. In verse 20 there are 5 words that stick out further then any other words in all of Luke 15:11-32. Those 5 words are “He ran to His son”. I don’t remember the exact day in 79 when I was born again/spiritually born. I know I was about 5. It was at Westside Assembly of God. I remember Pastor Barnett gave the alter call but it was my dad that prayed the salvation prayer with me. I remember I raised my hand and the preacher called all those who did so to come to the front. When I started to go my dad jumped out to go with me. I remember thinking that it looked like my dad was answering the call. I knew that was not the case but I didn’t want every one else thinking that he was. Dad didn’t care; he was going up with his boy to lead him/me to Christ. My dad will always be a hero to me for what he did that day. Like I said, I don’t remember the exact day in 79. When your 5 growing up in church you answer about every alter call but that one sticks out the most to me. I do remember December 6th 1996. For about 4 years after high school I ran from the things of God. My life pretty much resembled the prodigal son. That December Sunday morning at East Coast Christian Center in Merritt Island Florida I gave my life back to Christ. I remembered the way I cried, much like a new born. Luke 15:20 tells me how my Heavenly Dad reacted on Dec 6th 1996 around 11am. “He ran…”
The last of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”
The last of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”
So this is what we have established over the last few entries: 1.the fact that I love this statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” & 2. We grab a hold of true life by walking in the fruit of the Spirit and fighting the good fight of faith. I like what a friend pointed out about the fruit of the spirit after the last blog entry. These are things God ordained for us to do. He referred to Eph 2:10 “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Love that script! Mediate on that for awhile………….Ok. Now that we meditated on that let’s get back to business of breaking down “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” good Ol’Greek style. Last entry we found out that the original Greek word for “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” is used in a previous script in 1st Tim 6. I’m going to revert back to the King James for a minute. I usually use NIV but all my study stuff is King James Based. Both 1 Tim 6:12 and 19 says to “Lay Hold On Eternal Life”. (King James, remember? Although “Lay Hold on Eternal Life” sounds pretty cool too.) “Lay Hold On” is the Greek word “Epilambanomai.” I’m not going to get all crazy and break it down to the root of these Greek words and where they come from. One of my favorite authors Rick Renner is good for that. I’ll just refer to my Word Study Dictionary. This phrase is used metaphorically, to lay hold of in order to obtain and possess. The next word is Eternal; that is the Greek word Aiōnios. The last word is Zōē for Life. I going to explain “Life” first and then go back to “Eternal”. The reason why is because when these 2 Greek words collide in the New Testament the meaning becomes amazing and I want to capture as much of it as possible. You can simply say Zoe is energetic life, like the life my daughter Saige is full of. She is so full of energy. I often wonder if we should have named her Zoe because how lively she is. Aiōnios for “Eternal” carries the meaning of without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be. Now back to Zoe and Aionios colliding in both 1st Tim 6:12 & 19. Listen to how my W.S.D. describes this collision: “Whenever it is used for the life which God gives to those who believe in Christ it is to be understood as referring not only to duration, but more so to quality. That is, it is not merely a life that is eternal in duration, but is primarily something different from the natural life of man, i.e., the life of God.” WOW! We don’t have to wait till the “Sweet By & By” to get the life Christ promised. Heaven is going to be amazing but we can have Heaven here on earth. This “Eternal Life” is in front of us waiting for us to grab hold of it. This is not talking about salvation per-say but the life of salvation. The unauthorized “King JimmyB” version would put it this way. “Grab on to that amazing, energetic life of Christ, the life you’re made to live!”
Since my last blog entry I had a kid. Well I didn’t have the kid, my wife did. Sasha Grace was born Dec 3rd @ 10:14. She is beautiful, looks just like her older sister. I am a blessed man! You’ll be able to tell in the next few entries that I am one proud daddy. Until then: Stay blessed, it’s your choice.
So this is what we have established over the last few entries: 1.the fact that I love this statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” & 2. We grab a hold of true life by walking in the fruit of the Spirit and fighting the good fight of faith. I like what a friend pointed out about the fruit of the spirit after the last blog entry. These are things God ordained for us to do. He referred to Eph 2:10 “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Love that script! Mediate on that for awhile………….Ok. Now that we meditated on that let’s get back to business of breaking down “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” good Ol’Greek style. Last entry we found out that the original Greek word for “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” is used in a previous script in 1st Tim 6. I’m going to revert back to the King James for a minute. I usually use NIV but all my study stuff is King James Based. Both 1 Tim 6:12 and 19 says to “Lay Hold On Eternal Life”. (King James, remember? Although “Lay Hold on Eternal Life” sounds pretty cool too.) “Lay Hold On” is the Greek word “Epilambanomai.” I’m not going to get all crazy and break it down to the root of these Greek words and where they come from. One of my favorite authors Rick Renner is good for that. I’ll just refer to my Word Study Dictionary. This phrase is used metaphorically, to lay hold of in order to obtain and possess. The next word is Eternal; that is the Greek word Aiōnios. The last word is Zōē for Life. I going to explain “Life” first and then go back to “Eternal”. The reason why is because when these 2 Greek words collide in the New Testament the meaning becomes amazing and I want to capture as much of it as possible. You can simply say Zoe is energetic life, like the life my daughter Saige is full of. She is so full of energy. I often wonder if we should have named her Zoe because how lively she is. Aiōnios for “Eternal” carries the meaning of without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be. Now back to Zoe and Aionios colliding in both 1st Tim 6:12 & 19. Listen to how my W.S.D. describes this collision: “Whenever it is used for the life which God gives to those who believe in Christ it is to be understood as referring not only to duration, but more so to quality. That is, it is not merely a life that is eternal in duration, but is primarily something different from the natural life of man, i.e., the life of God.” WOW! We don’t have to wait till the “Sweet By & By” to get the life Christ promised. Heaven is going to be amazing but we can have Heaven here on earth. This “Eternal Life” is in front of us waiting for us to grab hold of it. This is not talking about salvation per-say but the life of salvation. The unauthorized “King JimmyB” version would put it this way. “Grab on to that amazing, energetic life of Christ, the life you’re made to live!”
Since my last blog entry I had a kid. Well I didn’t have the kid, my wife did. Sasha Grace was born Dec 3rd @ 10:14. She is beautiful, looks just like her older sister. I am a blessed man! You’ll be able to tell in the next few entries that I am one proud daddy. Until then: Stay blessed, it’s your choice.
More of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”
More of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”
I’m still loving the statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” from 1st Tim 6:19. When I first started to meditate on that phrase it seemed like such a “pie in the sky” kind of statement. After reading those 8 words my mind instantly went racing in all sorts of directions on what that could mean. One of the tracks was about what Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” I had this all mapped out in my mind exactly where I wanted to go with this entry but then I started reading all of verse 19. It seemed to take a whole different direction then where I wanted it to go. I would rather be guilty of proving the scriptures point then be guilty of using the scripture to prove my point. It drives me nuts when I hear people misusing scripts just prove their own point. That’s what the devil did while tempting Jesus, remember? So I really want to get this one right because 1: this phrase really excited me when I first read it and 2: I don’t want to play in the devil’s league. So let’s back up to what all of 19 says: “in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of life that is truly life.” Verse 19 starts off with “In this way”, in what way? I gotta back up further. Verse 18 says: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” So if they do good, be rich in good deeds, and be generous and willing to share then they will lay up a firm foundation for the coming age and they can do what my new favorite phrase says, but who are they? Gotta back up further! Verse 17 says “Command those WHO ARE RICH in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment”. Do you know that you can be poor and put your hope in wealth? That’s a subject for another day, let's move on. So Paul is talking about the rich that attends Timothy’s church, and really all the rich that are in the body of Christ. He’s saying to the rich to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share and if they do this then they will be laying up treasures and they can “take hold of life that is truly life.” He’s not rebuking the rich for being rich but just instructing them to be rich in good deeds. That’s getting kinda wordy. I’m gonna cut all that out and just get to the point. Paul is saying that if we do good deeds, we’re generous with what we have and share, then we’ll be laying up treasures and grabbing hold of true life. Got it, understand that. The funny thing is that Verses 17 thru 19 are part of Paul’s final charge to Tim; it’s the end of this letter. The full final charge is found in verses 11 thru 20. In Verse 12 Paul tells Tim to take hold of the eternal life; that is the same Greek phrase used in Verse 19. So really Verse 17 through 19 is echoing what Paul just told Tim to do himself. So really Paul is saying here is “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”, sort of speak. Paul instructs Tim in verse 11 thru 12 to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Doesn’t that sound like some slices of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:21-23? I love what the end of Galatians 5:23 says about all the slices of the F. of S. “against such things there is no law”. There is no limit on me doing good! That means I can go crazy with self control. If I truly indulge in love, joy, peace, and all the others listed in Galatians 5 and according to Gal 5 there is no limit on how much I indulge in those actions then both 1 Tim 6:12 & 19 tells me that I’m gonna be laying up treasure and grabbing the life that is truly life. Going back to what Jesus said in John 10:10, He came to give that overwhelming life. Are you catching this? This is the life I’m made to live. I’ve tried living other ways outside of Christ and I just felt hollow. Now I find that when I chase after love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, if I’m rich in good deeds, I’m literally grabbing hold of life that is truly life. Typing all that out makes the list seem really long but it’s all really easy to do. Now I really am ready to explode with excitement. This is not some silly “pie in the sky” statement, but it’s an obtainable pie with some serious substance. I gonna float on cloud 9 with that for awhile but I can’t wait for my next entry. I want to break down “take hold of life that is truly life” good ol’Greek style, but I’ll save that for the next entry. Talk to ya & stay blessed!!
I’m still loving the statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” from 1st Tim 6:19. When I first started to meditate on that phrase it seemed like such a “pie in the sky” kind of statement. After reading those 8 words my mind instantly went racing in all sorts of directions on what that could mean. One of the tracks was about what Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” I had this all mapped out in my mind exactly where I wanted to go with this entry but then I started reading all of verse 19. It seemed to take a whole different direction then where I wanted it to go. I would rather be guilty of proving the scriptures point then be guilty of using the scripture to prove my point. It drives me nuts when I hear people misusing scripts just prove their own point. That’s what the devil did while tempting Jesus, remember? So I really want to get this one right because 1: this phrase really excited me when I first read it and 2: I don’t want to play in the devil’s league. So let’s back up to what all of 19 says: “in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of life that is truly life.” Verse 19 starts off with “In this way”, in what way? I gotta back up further. Verse 18 says: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” So if they do good, be rich in good deeds, and be generous and willing to share then they will lay up a firm foundation for the coming age and they can do what my new favorite phrase says, but who are they? Gotta back up further! Verse 17 says “Command those WHO ARE RICH in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment”. Do you know that you can be poor and put your hope in wealth? That’s a subject for another day, let's move on. So Paul is talking about the rich that attends Timothy’s church, and really all the rich that are in the body of Christ. He’s saying to the rich to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share and if they do this then they will be laying up treasures and they can “take hold of life that is truly life.” He’s not rebuking the rich for being rich but just instructing them to be rich in good deeds. That’s getting kinda wordy. I’m gonna cut all that out and just get to the point. Paul is saying that if we do good deeds, we’re generous with what we have and share, then we’ll be laying up treasures and grabbing hold of true life. Got it, understand that. The funny thing is that Verses 17 thru 19 are part of Paul’s final charge to Tim; it’s the end of this letter. The full final charge is found in verses 11 thru 20. In Verse 12 Paul tells Tim to take hold of the eternal life; that is the same Greek phrase used in Verse 19. So really Verse 17 through 19 is echoing what Paul just told Tim to do himself. So really Paul is saying here is “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”, sort of speak. Paul instructs Tim in verse 11 thru 12 to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Doesn’t that sound like some slices of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:21-23? I love what the end of Galatians 5:23 says about all the slices of the F. of S. “against such things there is no law”. There is no limit on me doing good! That means I can go crazy with self control. If I truly indulge in love, joy, peace, and all the others listed in Galatians 5 and according to Gal 5 there is no limit on how much I indulge in those actions then both 1 Tim 6:12 & 19 tells me that I’m gonna be laying up treasure and grabbing the life that is truly life. Going back to what Jesus said in John 10:10, He came to give that overwhelming life. Are you catching this? This is the life I’m made to live. I’ve tried living other ways outside of Christ and I just felt hollow. Now I find that when I chase after love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, if I’m rich in good deeds, I’m literally grabbing hold of life that is truly life. Typing all that out makes the list seem really long but it’s all really easy to do. Now I really am ready to explode with excitement. This is not some silly “pie in the sky” statement, but it’s an obtainable pie with some serious substance. I gonna float on cloud 9 with that for awhile but I can’t wait for my next entry. I want to break down “take hold of life that is truly life” good ol’Greek style, but I’ll save that for the next entry. Talk to ya & stay blessed!!
TAKE HOLD OF LIFE THAT IS TRULY LIFE!
So I was trying to look up this one scripture. Everyone quotes it but no one references where it’s at in the Bible. I like to give the address to the script before I go off spouting it. Man, I looked and looked. I used “BlueLetterBible.org” and “BibleGateway.com”, Nothing! I even did Google and Yahoo searches for sermons about it. A lot of people have used the script I’m looking for but they never gave the address. I’m gonna have to go old school and dust off my Strong’s Concordance to find it. Once I do I’ll blog about it. But while I searched & searched I ran across 1 Tim 6:19.This is one awesome script. There is a phrase in there that just jumped out @ me; “Take hold of life that is truly life.” That bad boy right there reached out and slapped my right cheek! What a great scripture. “Take hold of life that is truly life.” My mind instantly went racing on all that this script could mean. I shared it with Kesha, she instantly went on about what is the life we grab hold of and stuff. It just a small sentence but it set our minds set ablaze with all that it could mean. The Life part of it and grabbing hold of it. Where has this scripture been hiding? Apparently is been hiding in 1st Tim all along and I just never grabbed onto it. So now I have to dig in. I said in the last blog that I like to type out scripts, helps me meditate on them. So out comes the big “Mac Daddy 4 Translation” Bible. What I already typed out above is the NIV version but to be fair it’s only part of the whole script. The whole verse 19 states “In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of life that is truly life. Ol’King James states: "Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." The Amp states: “In this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever] a good foundation for the future, so that they may grasp that which is life indeed”. The Republican version, ops, I mean the New American Standard: “Storing up for themselves the treasure of good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” And everyone’s favorite, the Message: “If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.”
So what is this script talking about. It’s in the last chapter of the book of 1st Tim. I know, I know. Paul didn’t divide his writings into chapters. What ever! It’s in the last part of his letter to ol’Timmy Boy. There are only 3 sentences following this one before the letter ends. So this is part of Paul’s final charge to Tim. The 1st part of verse 19 says “In this way they will lay up treasures for themselves….” Who are “they” and what “way”? Let’s back up to 1st Tim 6:17 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain(boy isn’t that true with all that is going on right now), but put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” Let’s move on to verse 18: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” Now verse 19 states “in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may TAKE HOLD OF LIFE THAT IS TRULY LIFE." I hope you enjoy this script the way Kesha & I did. There is still so much more that I want to explore with this but I want to keep these blogs kinda short. Let that statement “Take Hold of Life that is Truly Life” sets your mind into overdrive. Talk to ya and stay blessed.
So what is this script talking about. It’s in the last chapter of the book of 1st Tim. I know, I know. Paul didn’t divide his writings into chapters. What ever! It’s in the last part of his letter to ol’Timmy Boy. There are only 3 sentences following this one before the letter ends. So this is part of Paul’s final charge to Tim. The 1st part of verse 19 says “In this way they will lay up treasures for themselves….” Who are “they” and what “way”? Let’s back up to 1st Tim 6:17 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain(boy isn’t that true with all that is going on right now), but put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” Let’s move on to verse 18: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” Now verse 19 states “in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may TAKE HOLD OF LIFE THAT IS TRULY LIFE." I hope you enjoy this script the way Kesha & I did. There is still so much more that I want to explore with this but I want to keep these blogs kinda short. Let that statement “Take Hold of Life that is Truly Life” sets your mind into overdrive. Talk to ya and stay blessed.
He lives where?
He lives where?
I had to fit this in before sending my computer back to the shop. The cd/dvd/whatever doesn’t want to act right. So while I still have the warranty I’m shipping it back. I’m sticking with the worship theme. I love worship. I sing like a bird, it’s foul. HAHA, as my pastor here in Birm would say “that one is free”. I really do wish I had a great sounding voice. Kind of like my wife’s voice, just more manly. But no matter how terrible Kesha thinks I singing, I know God loves to hear me. Ps 22:3 has been bouncing around my brain for the last few weeks. It says (KJV) “But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” I checked that script in my big mac’daddy 4 translation Bible. Seriously, this thing is huge and it has an awesome story behind it. I’ll share that story another day. NIV states “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.” New American Standard says “O Thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” The Amp’d up version says “But You are holy, O You Who dwell in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].” It’s crazy typing all those out but it helps me study and meditate on Ps 22:3. I think I like the KJV the best because it’s what I grew up with. But breaking down this scripture I find, from the KJV, that “[O thou] that inhabitest” comes from just one Hebrew word “Yashab”. From what I’m finding in my word study and lexicon is that this is an active thing. It’s like He actively lives in my praise. Let me back up. He actively lives on the praise that I offer to Him. That makes me wonder what kind of place I have built for Him. Have I given a place with great furnishing? Or have I given some broken down sorry apartment on the eastside of Loser Town. Would He even want to live in my place/praise? I don’t want to be the landlord that’s embraced because I know the residency that I’m providing sucks. I want my praise to be well worth living in. Fresh carpet, new tile, not something stuck in the 70’s. Now going back to the translations I typed out before. The Amp’d version seems to be referring that God lived in the “Holy of Holies” of the temple where praise was offered. What ever, we live on this side of the cross & 1 Cor 6:19 states “your body is the temple”. I just want to give Him something that He’s comfortable in, a place that He would want to stay. I know when I praise Him my life is better. It’s the point that when I have praise & worship on my IPod in the gym, I feel stronger. Seriously! The other day I put up 740lds on the leg press & I had Saving Grace playing. I made sure I had it on the part that goes “Jesus Savior, My life belongs to you forever. Cause you have set my heart on fire, you have set me free.” My church here in Birm does such a great job with that song. I guess the only place to leave this blog entry is to challenge you, and myself, not be that sorry landlord. Give Him something great to live in. Something for Him to brag about….
I had to fit this in before sending my computer back to the shop. The cd/dvd/whatever doesn’t want to act right. So while I still have the warranty I’m shipping it back. I’m sticking with the worship theme. I love worship. I sing like a bird, it’s foul. HAHA, as my pastor here in Birm would say “that one is free”. I really do wish I had a great sounding voice. Kind of like my wife’s voice, just more manly. But no matter how terrible Kesha thinks I singing, I know God loves to hear me. Ps 22:3 has been bouncing around my brain for the last few weeks. It says (KJV) “But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” I checked that script in my big mac’daddy 4 translation Bible. Seriously, this thing is huge and it has an awesome story behind it. I’ll share that story another day. NIV states “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.” New American Standard says “O Thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” The Amp’d up version says “But You are holy, O You Who dwell in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].” It’s crazy typing all those out but it helps me study and meditate on Ps 22:3. I think I like the KJV the best because it’s what I grew up with. But breaking down this scripture I find, from the KJV, that “[O thou] that inhabitest” comes from just one Hebrew word “Yashab”. From what I’m finding in my word study and lexicon is that this is an active thing. It’s like He actively lives in my praise. Let me back up. He actively lives on the praise that I offer to Him. That makes me wonder what kind of place I have built for Him. Have I given a place with great furnishing? Or have I given some broken down sorry apartment on the eastside of Loser Town. Would He even want to live in my place/praise? I don’t want to be the landlord that’s embraced because I know the residency that I’m providing sucks. I want my praise to be well worth living in. Fresh carpet, new tile, not something stuck in the 70’s. Now going back to the translations I typed out before. The Amp’d version seems to be referring that God lived in the “Holy of Holies” of the temple where praise was offered. What ever, we live on this side of the cross & 1 Cor 6:19 states “your body is the temple”. I just want to give Him something that He’s comfortable in, a place that He would want to stay. I know when I praise Him my life is better. It’s the point that when I have praise & worship on my IPod in the gym, I feel stronger. Seriously! The other day I put up 740lds on the leg press & I had Saving Grace playing. I made sure I had it on the part that goes “Jesus Savior, My life belongs to you forever. Cause you have set my heart on fire, you have set me free.” My church here in Birm does such a great job with that song. I guess the only place to leave this blog entry is to challenge you, and myself, not be that sorry landlord. Give Him something great to live in. Something for Him to brag about….
And Love…completed…I finally get it!
And Love…completed…I finally get it!
So I left the “and Love” blog entry kind of hanging. I felt like there was more I wanted to say, and there is more. So 2 months later, back to 1st Cor 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love”. Now the King James here uses Charity instead of Love. That’s fine because that fits in with the whole chapter, plus with chapters 12 & 14 of 1st Cor. So I almost wonder if I’m pulling 1st Cor 13:13 a little out of context by using it in describe how I want my relationship with God to be. I hate finding out that I miss used a script just to prove my point. I would rather prove the scriptures point then use the scripture to prove my point. The love that 1st Cor 13 is talking about is an unselfish love. That’s why 1st Cor 13:11 says “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” Children are selfish; I know that sounds harsh but they mostly think of themselves. When you grow up you learn to look past yourself and look to the needs of others (hopefully). But really that is how I want to approach God, with an unselfish love. Like I said in before, in worship I want to cry "Holy, Holy, Holy" without crying “Help, Help, Help.” When we do get to heaven we will be able to sing exactly like that, I mean the “Holy” part. As far as what Revelation 4:8 tells us, “Holy, Holy, Holy” by the “4 Crazy Eyed Creatures” will be the #1 hit in Heaven. Do you remember Jesus’ greatest commandment? It’s found both in Luke 10 & Matt 22. We always want to quote the 2nd part of that commandment first. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But that follows the 1st part. “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” that’s the Matt version. Luke throws “with all your strength” somewhere in there. Truly you can’t do the 2nd part of that command correctly with out doing the 1st part.
You know what’s crazy? In Matt 7:21 -23 Jesus said “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” I think I finally get what Jesus is saying here. See these “evildoers” had 2 out the 3 found from 1 Cor 13:13 working in their lives, but neither of those 2 was love. It takes “faith” to drive out demons and do miracles; trust me, it does. Try casting out demons without faith. They also did the prophesy thing; you have to do that thru divine inspirations. As mater of fact they drove out demons and did miracles to/for others. They thought they had hope till Christ crushed that. The one blatant thing missing from their lives was Love. They never knew Jesus. Oh how I want to know Jesus. How can I do His will if I don’t even know who He is? Lately I’ve been stocking up on worship albums off of ITunes. On one of the albums there is this song called “You Won’t Relent” by Chris Quilala & Kim Walker. Kim Walker sings this one verse only a few times, but that verse sums it up for me. It goes “I don’t want to talk about You like You’re not in the room, want to look right @ You, want to sing right to You.” I’m not looking to split to Heaven a little early; I just want Heaven here on earth. Enoch had it. He had such a relationship with God that God just whisked Ol’E up so they could hang tighter; and that was after the fall but before the cross. That truly is becoming more of the desire of my heart. That is the way I try to worship. That is the way I choose this day to live.
And Love!
So I left the “and Love” blog entry kind of hanging. I felt like there was more I wanted to say, and there is more. So 2 months later, back to 1st Cor 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love”. Now the King James here uses Charity instead of Love. That’s fine because that fits in with the whole chapter, plus with chapters 12 & 14 of 1st Cor. So I almost wonder if I’m pulling 1st Cor 13:13 a little out of context by using it in describe how I want my relationship with God to be. I hate finding out that I miss used a script just to prove my point. I would rather prove the scriptures point then use the scripture to prove my point. The love that 1st Cor 13 is talking about is an unselfish love. That’s why 1st Cor 13:11 says “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” Children are selfish; I know that sounds harsh but they mostly think of themselves. When you grow up you learn to look past yourself and look to the needs of others (hopefully). But really that is how I want to approach God, with an unselfish love. Like I said in before, in worship I want to cry "Holy, Holy, Holy" without crying “Help, Help, Help.” When we do get to heaven we will be able to sing exactly like that, I mean the “Holy” part. As far as what Revelation 4:8 tells us, “Holy, Holy, Holy” by the “4 Crazy Eyed Creatures” will be the #1 hit in Heaven. Do you remember Jesus’ greatest commandment? It’s found both in Luke 10 & Matt 22. We always want to quote the 2nd part of that commandment first. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But that follows the 1st part. “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” that’s the Matt version. Luke throws “with all your strength” somewhere in there. Truly you can’t do the 2nd part of that command correctly with out doing the 1st part.
You know what’s crazy? In Matt 7:21 -23 Jesus said “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” I think I finally get what Jesus is saying here. See these “evildoers” had 2 out the 3 found from 1 Cor 13:13 working in their lives, but neither of those 2 was love. It takes “faith” to drive out demons and do miracles; trust me, it does. Try casting out demons without faith. They also did the prophesy thing; you have to do that thru divine inspirations. As mater of fact they drove out demons and did miracles to/for others. They thought they had hope till Christ crushed that. The one blatant thing missing from their lives was Love. They never knew Jesus. Oh how I want to know Jesus. How can I do His will if I don’t even know who He is? Lately I’ve been stocking up on worship albums off of ITunes. On one of the albums there is this song called “You Won’t Relent” by Chris Quilala & Kim Walker. Kim Walker sings this one verse only a few times, but that verse sums it up for me. It goes “I don’t want to talk about You like You’re not in the room, want to look right @ You, want to sing right to You.” I’m not looking to split to Heaven a little early; I just want Heaven here on earth. Enoch had it. He had such a relationship with God that God just whisked Ol’E up so they could hang tighter; and that was after the fall but before the cross. That truly is becoming more of the desire of my heart. That is the way I try to worship. That is the way I choose this day to live.
And Love!
And Love...
Saturday morn… I woke up early-early, like 4am. Wrestled for about an hour on whether to get up and watch SportsCenter or worship God for awhile. Flesh won @ 1st. for about an hour + I watched all what I already knew then started flipping through the channels aimlessly. Too many infomercials & bad preaching on that time of morning. Finally I decided to download some worship music to my iPod and take the villains for a walk. As I was walking, picking up their poop, and worshiping (not necessarily in that order) I started thinking on 1 Cor.13:13. You know that scripture, everyone loves to quote it. 1 Cor 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. It can be a simple scripture or a real deep one. I like to keep things simple. Why love? Why is love the greatest of them all? It was great that I was listening to worship while I was meditating on this script because it made me think of Heaven. When we get to heaven we’re going to be worshiping all the time. When we get to Heaven we’re gonna be surrounded by His love all the time. Faith, we won’t need faith when we get to heaven. Heb 11:1 says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We’re going to see everything when get to heaven. Hope, Heaven is our hope. I like how the Amplified Bible put 1 Cor. 13:13 “13And so faith, hope, love abide [faith--conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope--joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love--true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.” That leaves us with one, Love. For once I want to worship like I’m in heaven, not needing faith or hope. This is what I mean. Most of the time when I worship I’m still aware of what’s going on around me. I know the needs that are tugging @ me, the healings that I or my family needs. I just want to worship in love, without need. I want to cry “Holy, Holy, Holy” without crying “Help, Help, Help”! It’s hard to do that when we don’t live in Heaven yet. If we have Christ as our savior then we have the house being built but we don’t actually live there yet.
The Coolest Miracle Ever
Sorry for the long delay. Saige and I have been busy painting. I added a pic of Saige doing her paint thing. It may be another long time before the next entry, I have to turn this computer in for repair. Enjoy the blog entry below.
The Coolest Miracle Ever?
It’s hard to call a single miracle in the Bible the coolest ever. How can you compare one miracle to another? How could any miracle listed in the scripts beat out the Red Sea split? Forget that, nothing beats out Jesus raised from the dead, but this one is pretty darn cool. I have only heard one person talk about it. That one person is Rick Renner and he did so in his daily devotional “Sparking Gems”. The “April 12” devo, page 230 if you have the hardback version.
Here is the coolest (maybe 3rd coolest) miracle ever. Well let me back up, here is the evidence of the coolest (maybe 3rd coolest) miracle ever, but don’t blink cause you might miss it. This evidence is listed in Mark 14:51-52. I say evidence because the before scripts don’t actually describe this happening so you have to kind of dig a little to figure out what happened. Mark 14:43-52 is where Judas betrays Jesus and Jesus arrested. Verses 43-50 is about Judas strutting up and laying the kiss on Jesus but 51 & 52 gives a strange twist to the story that the other 3 gospels don’t record. Here are the scripts: “51A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, 52he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.” So who’s the kid running around a garden with next to nothing on in the middle of the night. . Some say the kid is Mark cause this story is found in the book of Mark. Some say it’s Luke. Rick Renner says it’s neither. The risk of mentioning someone else’s revelation is that if it’s wrong then you’re not really wrong, it’s the person who you’re quoting that is wrong. I’m taking this one on for myself so if it’s wrong then I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. Vrs. 51 says the kid was in a linen garment. The Greek word used for linen garment is used the only other time in the Bible to describe what Jesus was wrapped in for burial. I made sure to do my own research to verify this. The Greek word is “sindon”. It also describes a cloth worn @ night (pajamas) but again the only other time this word is used is to describe what Jesus was wrapped in. So again who is this kid now running around naked in a garden in the middle of the night? That night Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Garden is near a cemetery. John’s record of the betraying is where Jesus said one of the greatest statements in the Bible, “I AM”. John 4:4-6 “4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’ 5 ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. 5 ‘I am he,’ Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.” When Jesus said “I AM” so much power came out of Him that the crowd got knocked on their butts. That’s all that was recorded when He said “I AM” but that is not all that I think that happened. When Jesus said “I AM” this kid was raised from the dead. That’s why he was running around the garden with just a burial cloth on. The natural response of anyone raised from the dead, like being raised from the dead is natural, would be to find out who did it. Could you imagine being the parents of this kid? Could you imagine, after having all your dreams smashed your “dead” kid shows up on your front door full of life & naked. I hope they put cloths on him right away.
So just how much power is in Jesus’ “I Am”? Enough! Enough to knock a bunch of losers on their butts, enough to answer some parents’ hopeless prayer, and more then enough for what ever we have to face.
Stay Blessed..it’s your choice!
The Coolest Miracle Ever?
It’s hard to call a single miracle in the Bible the coolest ever. How can you compare one miracle to another? How could any miracle listed in the scripts beat out the Red Sea split? Forget that, nothing beats out Jesus raised from the dead, but this one is pretty darn cool. I have only heard one person talk about it. That one person is Rick Renner and he did so in his daily devotional “Sparking Gems”. The “April 12” devo, page 230 if you have the hardback version.
Here is the coolest (maybe 3rd coolest) miracle ever. Well let me back up, here is the evidence of the coolest (maybe 3rd coolest) miracle ever, but don’t blink cause you might miss it. This evidence is listed in Mark 14:51-52. I say evidence because the before scripts don’t actually describe this happening so you have to kind of dig a little to figure out what happened. Mark 14:43-52 is where Judas betrays Jesus and Jesus arrested. Verses 43-50 is about Judas strutting up and laying the kiss on Jesus but 51 & 52 gives a strange twist to the story that the other 3 gospels don’t record. Here are the scripts: “51A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, 52he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.” So who’s the kid running around a garden with next to nothing on in the middle of the night. . Some say the kid is Mark cause this story is found in the book of Mark. Some say it’s Luke. Rick Renner says it’s neither. The risk of mentioning someone else’s revelation is that if it’s wrong then you’re not really wrong, it’s the person who you’re quoting that is wrong. I’m taking this one on for myself so if it’s wrong then I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. Vrs. 51 says the kid was in a linen garment. The Greek word used for linen garment is used the only other time in the Bible to describe what Jesus was wrapped in for burial. I made sure to do my own research to verify this. The Greek word is “sindon”. It also describes a cloth worn @ night (pajamas) but again the only other time this word is used is to describe what Jesus was wrapped in. So again who is this kid now running around naked in a garden in the middle of the night? That night Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Garden is near a cemetery. John’s record of the betraying is where Jesus said one of the greatest statements in the Bible, “I AM”. John 4:4-6 “4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’ 5 ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. 5 ‘I am he,’ Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.” When Jesus said “I AM” so much power came out of Him that the crowd got knocked on their butts. That’s all that was recorded when He said “I AM” but that is not all that I think that happened. When Jesus said “I AM” this kid was raised from the dead. That’s why he was running around the garden with just a burial cloth on. The natural response of anyone raised from the dead, like being raised from the dead is natural, would be to find out who did it. Could you imagine being the parents of this kid? Could you imagine, after having all your dreams smashed your “dead” kid shows up on your front door full of life & naked. I hope they put cloths on him right away.
So just how much power is in Jesus’ “I Am”? Enough! Enough to knock a bunch of losers on their butts, enough to answer some parents’ hopeless prayer, and more then enough for what ever we have to face.
Stay Blessed..it’s your choice!
Isaiah 55 (deeper)
All is going well in the Buster Household. Baby Buster is getting big in mommy’s belly. Kesha is such a small woman that baby girl is all going forward. I included a picture of the ultra sounds on the blog.
We had a great Bible study tonight (7/20). We covered Isaiah 55 1-8 and skimmed over 9-13. Here is the break down. I’m looking forward to next Week. We had a visitor. That makes 4 of us. Just 7996 away from what I envision this thing exploding too. I dream big! That really is a joke, I really don’t care how big or small we are, just as long as we’re chasing after God through His word and in spirit.
We covered Isaiah 55 more in depth tonight. What a great chapter! But like I explain in the notes for verse 5 & 8, it’s even better to meditate on this chapter with the perspective that we live on the other side of the cross then what Isaiah did.
Isa. 55
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Jimmy notes: This reminds me of the woman @ the well in John 4:7-14
Jesus told her in verse 10 “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water”
3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
Jimmy notes: Acts 13:34 refers to this. The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words: "I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.”
Jesus is our everlasting Covenant.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.
Jimmy notes: Jesus is the faithful witness. Revelations 1:5 “and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness”
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor."
Jimmy notes: Since this was written on the other side of the cross it is referring to Israel. Israel had the salvation message. But now that we are on this side of the cross this is for Christians today. So in “New Testament” twist you can say “You summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you are coming to you, this is because of the LORD your God, Jesus Christ, for he has endowed you with splendor.
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Jimmy notes: 2nd Pet 3:9-10 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare”
7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Jimmy notes: Simply repent and turn to God. He will show mercy to you.
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
Jimmy notes: Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which also in Christ Jesus”
I have been using the New International Version but this time I used the King James just because I think its better translated.
Remember what I said back @ the notes for verse 5, we live on this side of the cross.
Just like the difference between Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24
Isaiah 53:5 says “we are healed” but 1st Peter 2:24 says “we were healed”. It was taken care of @ the cross.
Back to 55:8; right now we have the mind of Christ. We can know what God is thinking. Through the new birth the Lord has given us the mind of Christ. But the choice is to let the His mind function through us.
1st Corinthians 2:16 says “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.”
The first part of 1st Cor 2:16 sounds like Isaiah 55:8, but there is a “BUT”
It says we have (right now, we’re not waiting for it to arrive, not trying to get it but already have it) the mind of Christ.
Yes I still believe @ its simplest form Isaiah 55:8 is still dealing with grace and mercy but in context with the rest of 55 it’s hard to understand His grace and mercy. But now that we live on this side of the cross we can comprehend it because we have the mind of Christ.
Read 1st Corinthians 2:7-16. Awesome stuff!!
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Jimmy notes: That really is just reiterating what verse 8 is saying
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
Jimmy notes: Basic science lesson.
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Jimmy notes: Just like the water does not return without doing its job, God’s word WILL DO IT’S JOB!
12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Jimmy notes: Joy and Peace are part of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
Jimmy notes: The pine tree instead of the thorn bush or the myrtle instead of the briers.
Back to Galatians 5:22 really back it up to Gal 5:19. The acts (or fruit) of a sinful nature are listed. Those are weeds in our garden. But we produce good fruit that is listed in Gal 5:22
We had a great Bible study tonight (7/20). We covered Isaiah 55 1-8 and skimmed over 9-13. Here is the break down. I’m looking forward to next Week. We had a visitor. That makes 4 of us. Just 7996 away from what I envision this thing exploding too. I dream big! That really is a joke, I really don’t care how big or small we are, just as long as we’re chasing after God through His word and in spirit.
We covered Isaiah 55 more in depth tonight. What a great chapter! But like I explain in the notes for verse 5 & 8, it’s even better to meditate on this chapter with the perspective that we live on the other side of the cross then what Isaiah did.
Isa. 55
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Jimmy notes: This reminds me of the woman @ the well in John 4:7-14
Jesus told her in verse 10 “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water”
3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
Jimmy notes: Acts 13:34 refers to this. The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words: "I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.”
Jesus is our everlasting Covenant.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.
Jimmy notes: Jesus is the faithful witness. Revelations 1:5 “and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness”
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor."
Jimmy notes: Since this was written on the other side of the cross it is referring to Israel. Israel had the salvation message. But now that we are on this side of the cross this is for Christians today. So in “New Testament” twist you can say “You summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you are coming to you, this is because of the LORD your God, Jesus Christ, for he has endowed you with splendor.
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Jimmy notes: 2nd Pet 3:9-10 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare”
7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Jimmy notes: Simply repent and turn to God. He will show mercy to you.
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
Jimmy notes: Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which also in Christ Jesus”
I have been using the New International Version but this time I used the King James just because I think its better translated.
Remember what I said back @ the notes for verse 5, we live on this side of the cross.
Just like the difference between Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24
Isaiah 53:5 says “we are healed” but 1st Peter 2:24 says “we were healed”. It was taken care of @ the cross.
Back to 55:8; right now we have the mind of Christ. We can know what God is thinking. Through the new birth the Lord has given us the mind of Christ. But the choice is to let the His mind function through us.
1st Corinthians 2:16 says “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.”
The first part of 1st Cor 2:16 sounds like Isaiah 55:8, but there is a “BUT”
It says we have (right now, we’re not waiting for it to arrive, not trying to get it but already have it) the mind of Christ.
Yes I still believe @ its simplest form Isaiah 55:8 is still dealing with grace and mercy but in context with the rest of 55 it’s hard to understand His grace and mercy. But now that we live on this side of the cross we can comprehend it because we have the mind of Christ.
Read 1st Corinthians 2:7-16. Awesome stuff!!
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Jimmy notes: That really is just reiterating what verse 8 is saying
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
Jimmy notes: Basic science lesson.
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Jimmy notes: Just like the water does not return without doing its job, God’s word WILL DO IT’S JOB!
12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Jimmy notes: Joy and Peace are part of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
Jimmy notes: The pine tree instead of the thorn bush or the myrtle instead of the briers.
Back to Galatians 5:22 really back it up to Gal 5:19. The acts (or fruit) of a sinful nature are listed. Those are weeds in our garden. But we produce good fruit that is listed in Gal 5:22
Welcome to my blog
Welcome to Busted Thoughts. Back in the summer of 2008 I started this blog thing. At that time we had a little Bible study at our house and I figured the blog was a good way to keep the discussion flowing. Well that little Bible study started and stopped a few times till finally we just stopped it all together, but the blog remained. Not only did the blog remain but its focus stayed on the Word of God. Busted Thoughts is really just a Bible study.
At first the blog entries covered a variety of biblical subjects. Most topics focused on what I called “Living It.” But as of late the entries have been more focused on subject studies. The subject study titled “Jesus’ Healing Touch” is a study of the healings performed by Jesus in chronological order. I was once asked why it had to be in chronological order. The reason for the chronological study is not to just focus on the healings Jesus performed but also on His life/ministry and the lives of those around him. There will be other subject studies in the future. I love subject studies of the scriptures simply because they give me a deeper understanding of the character of God.
So what about the name “Busted Thoughts”? Well, my last name is Buster. I have been very blessed with the name Buster. I’m proud of that name so I might as well use it. Also I do not claim to be a complete authority on the Word of God but rather a discoverer of the Word of God. I simply love discovering what It has and sharing what I discover. So that’s the reason for the name “Buster Thoughts.” Another very good reason for the name is because of Romans 12:2. It tells us to “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” In other words, we need to continually bust our thoughts. Ah, that was a good one.
It is almost silly to me to say, “Join me in this Bible study called Busted Thoughts.” It has that Mr. Roger’s kind of feel to it, but I don’t really know a better way to put it. Maybe I should put up my coat and nice shoes, and put on my sweater and canvas shoes. . . Anyway, come discover with me. I welcome all input.
At first the blog entries covered a variety of biblical subjects. Most topics focused on what I called “Living It.” But as of late the entries have been more focused on subject studies. The subject study titled “Jesus’ Healing Touch” is a study of the healings performed by Jesus in chronological order. I was once asked why it had to be in chronological order. The reason for the chronological study is not to just focus on the healings Jesus performed but also on His life/ministry and the lives of those around him. There will be other subject studies in the future. I love subject studies of the scriptures simply because they give me a deeper understanding of the character of God.
So what about the name “Busted Thoughts”? Well, my last name is Buster. I have been very blessed with the name Buster. I’m proud of that name so I might as well use it. Also I do not claim to be a complete authority on the Word of God but rather a discoverer of the Word of God. I simply love discovering what It has and sharing what I discover. So that’s the reason for the name “Buster Thoughts.” Another very good reason for the name is because of Romans 12:2. It tells us to “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” In other words, we need to continually bust our thoughts. Ah, that was a good one.
It is almost silly to me to say, “Join me in this Bible study called Busted Thoughts.” It has that Mr. Roger’s kind of feel to it, but I don’t really know a better way to put it. Maybe I should put up my coat and nice shoes, and put on my sweater and canvas shoes. . . Anyway, come discover with me. I welcome all input.
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