Christmas?

May I end my somewhat stunning silence (August? Really?) and say, this Christmas season has been Weird. (For those who follow such cliched terms, that is "weird with a capital W.") It hasn't felt like Christmas season at all. Yeah, the sermons and songs point to it, but not what I remember Christmas as. I remember the anticipation of Christmas morning, seeing my sisters (I admit this reluctantly), and the traditions of what I grew up with, but the feeling with in my house is depressing, and that has, in a sense, ruined Christmas.

It hasn't ruined what Christmas is about, not at all. Nothing can or ever will, but the secular aspect of the holiday (presents, tree, even the music) have no pull on me. I love to lose myself in Christmas music (seriously started listening back in October), but given the chance, I listen to some old emo stuff from high school. Really? It's just so strange. I finally put a finger on why this is, as I said earlier, my house is a tad depressing. I spend my days in my room on the off chance that I might come in contact with a friend on facebook or xbox, but no such luck.

I really don't even know why I am writing this, other than to spill it all out and clear my head. I won't even be posting this to facebook, so no point in making it too long. Whatever.

Worship Is...

As I lay in bed tonight, a though blossomed at the back of my mind, so, here I am writing this blog instead of sleeping.

This thought (which has now firmly attached itself to my brain, and will not let go) was "The institution of the church (where you gether on Sundays) is designed for us. The ecclessia (the Called Out; the true Church) is designed for us to unify to give God glory."

This is one of the major things I find wrong with churches today. As I later tweeted, "When a church's attitude of expectation overtakes its attitude of worship, there is a problem." And it is true. While expecting God to work is not a bad thing, it is not the point of church. So to say that you go to church to hear a word from God, I feel, is a poor motivation. God speaks to us in so many ways and at so many different times, that we shouldn't go into a Sunday morning service expecting Him to speak there. Now, please don't hear me saying that He doesn't, but that should not be our primary motivation for going to church.

Church (ecclessia) is about community. It is built upon and only works when a myriad of individuals come together in unity for a singular goal. When we come into church services expecting God to speak so we can consume, we are asking for something selfishly. However, if we come into a church service with an attitude of worship, we, then, become truly unified with the other believers, since our purpose is make God famous. We cannot do that if we are fractured. It is only when we are unified that the Church works.

Look throughout Acts. The apostles may not always have gotten along, but they were unified in one purpose: making God famous. It is through that unity that God moved. I am sure the apostles expected God to do things, the very nature of faith is knowing that He will do things, but their unity was built first upon making God famous, and from there, all other things.

I know this is probably confusing, maybe even infuriating, but if it causes you to think about why you attend church, then it has accomplished His purpose. God wants us to glorify Him and make Him famous, especially when we are grouped with other believers.

Worship Is...
-An attitude,
-A lifestyle,
-A desire,
-Loving God back,
-Unifying.

Journal Challenge

For those of you who might be keeping track of my challenge, I am not posting all of this week's journal entries. I am currently visiting my sister and, though I will read and study, I will not take the time to update my blog daily. Look for a mass summation of the week on Saturday. Until then, God bless and stay in the Word.

Journal Challenge: Day 3

Today, during Sunday School, church, and the crusade service I went to tonight, I was reminded of several things. 1. What the term "accepting Christ" really means. 2. How messed up we really are (even as Christians). 3. Where our focus sometimes lies within the church.

1. We tend to, as Christians, throw out these phrases and words that most people dub "Christian-eze." These words turn people off from the truth of God because they don't understand them. I fall into this trap a lot myself, and one of the phrases I (and most pastors) use the most is "accept Christ." Now, this phrase isn't bad, or even unbiblical, but I believe that we have turned it into something it isn't. We say we need to "accept Christ as our Lord and Savior," but most people think that means "ask for forgiveness and ask Him to come into our heart." Sorry, you are wrong. (Here comes some toe-stepping.) As I have said in previous posts, we don't have to ask for forgiveness to be saved! It is a by-product of our understanding that we sin and our confession of Jesus as Lord. Remember, God is faithful to forgive us if we confess our sins, but He will save us if we confess Christ as Lord (1 John 1:9, Romans 10:14). Also, it isn't Jesus who comes into our heart (sorry kiddos); it is the Holy Spirit. When we confess Christ as our Lord, we receive the Holy Spirit in our lives and it is Him who lives through us. The person of Christ is seated on His throne in heaven awaiting the day that the Father says "Go get your bride."

So this term "accept Christ as Lord and Savior" is accurate. How do I mean? Well, He already is our Savior (He has already died for our sins) and He already is our Master (whether you want to admit it or not, God is sovereign), so we must accept that in our own lives and confess that He is both of those things in our lives. That produces forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

2. We suck. Plain and simple. (Man I'm full of fun stuff tonight.) In Hosea, we read how the Israelites kept turning away from God despite all that He had done for them. "My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore" (Hosea 4:12). God isn't happy with His people here. They have gone off and sought other things to worship and give their time. How different are we, really? Do we not seek after other things to satisfy us when God is the only thing we need? Do we not ask money, possessions, or relationships to fulfill in us what only God Himself can fill? So, yeah, sometimes...we suck.

The crazy thing is, though, God still loves us and wants to have a relationship with us! No matter how much we leave to "play the whore," God still has this promise for His people: "I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord" (Hosea 2:19-20). That's true love there! For those who are apart of His Bride (the Church [Christians]), we will be betrothed to God even if we slip up!

3. My pastor today preached on the passage in Luke about the rich man and Lazarus, where they both died and Lazarus went to heaven and the rich man went to hell. He used it to point out three things that not every church has: belief, prayer, and evangelism. Though I agree, I got something completely different out of this passage. Often times, we focus on evangelism too much and forget about our own discipleship, or vice versa. I believe our focus should be on doing what God has commanded us, regardless of what people think about us. Here's what I think Jesus was saying in Luke 16: there are those who have all the Scripture (Jews = Rich man) and there are those who wish to have it, but do not (Gentiles = Lazarus). Those who did not start with all Scripture are blessed, because it did not taint how they perceived Christ. Whereas the Jews have. In the end, the rich man wanted Lazarus to go back to his family to tell them, but he was not permitted because they had the law and prophets and because of that, they would not believe even if a man was raised from the dead. So, Lazarus is a picture of Jesus as well. The Jews did not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, even though He showed Himself many times.

So, where is our focus? Scattered. Where should it be? The commands of Christ. Why? Because that is how people come to faith in Him and accept Him for who He rightfully is.

Journal Challenge: Day 2

Journal Challenge 2
Yesterday I went through Joel, and that was a bit confusing, but I came away understanding the need for true brokenness and not just faux brokenness before God. Today, I began Amos. Amos is a bit easier to understand (at least chapters 2-3 are), because it is all judgement. Amos helps us out by telling us when he was a prophet, which was during Uzziah's reign two years before an earthquake (1:1). During this time, the surrounding nations have not been too kind to Israel and Judah (no surprise there), and so God begins pronouncing judgement upon them. He mentions Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, the Ammonites, and Moab. All of which shared a border with Israel and Judah. Damascus is judged becaused they destroyed Gilead, which was a refuge city. This was a city of protection that was established for people to enter and not have to worry about being killed. So, because of their actions against Gilead, Damascus is reduced to nothing. The same is said about the Ammonite people. Gaza and Tyre are judged because they took Israelites and sold them to Edom. Edom is judged because "he pursued his brother with the sword." Edomites were the descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. Moab was judged because they "burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom." So, here we see, that even though he wasn't chosen by God to be His people, God still protected Esau's descendants because of the relationship between Esau and Jacob and Isaac.

But God also pronounces judgement upon Judah and Israel. Judah "rejected the law of the Lord" and they followed after false gods (2:4). Israel, though, they are some messed up people when Amos is talking to them. They take advantage of the righteous and the needy, they do not care about the laws God has given them, and, in fact, they get others who are committed to God to turn away. See verse 12 of chapter 2: "But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and you commanded the prophets, saying, 'You shall not prophesy.'" After this, God says that the strong, mighty, swift, and nimble will not be able to stand on the day of judgement.

So, here is my thought: who have I led astray? Have I made people go against their vows or not be used by God? The Bible says "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). Do I think myself better? Do I think myself strong or mighty? To think such a way is to pharisaical and to think of myself as righteous, when I know that my righteousness is as clean as a woman on her period (Isaiah 64:6).

Just my leaving thoughts...

Journal Challenge: Day 1

This last week at Journey Youth Camp, I challenged my students to keep a journal for 30 days once we returned home. This serves multiple purposes. The first is it creates a habit of getting into the Word daily. The second is so that they can look back and remember what God taught them. Instead of writing mine down to myself, I decided I would keep a journal on my blog. As I was trying to decide where I should start, I felt I should look at the Old Testament minor prophets I had never previously studied. So, I am starting with Joel.

Journal: Day 1

The hard part with these minor prophets is that you get very little context to what was going on in the land of Israel or Judah at the time of the writing. Joel is one of those books where we just do not know when it was written. Best guesses put it somewhere between 800-835 BC during the reign of Joash in Judah. With Joel, God, again, is pronouncing judgment upon His own people for their disobedience and sin. However, he does proclaim grace and mercy upon His people once they return to Him. As I read this, I cannot help but draw parallels to Revelation. From the swarms and hordes of locusts to the sun being darkened and the moon turning to blood. If these events truly came to pass in Judah during this time, there would be a record of it in either 2 Kings or 2 Chronicles.

Alas, there is no record of this happening. This leads me to believe the words Joel received from the Lord were prophetic for a time 800 years in the future. My clues? After words of terror about earthquakes and the sun and moon being darkened, God says this: "'Yet even now.' declares the Lord, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.'" Now, to understand this "clue" of mine, you must understand the word "rend." The word "rend" means to "tear apart." In the Old Testament, the Jewish people would tear their garments in moments of great distress and agony, whether physical or because of sin. What God is calling them to do here is to tear their hearts instead. Allow themselves to be fully broken inside, not just make a show of it on the outside. The next step in this clue, is when God says that after they come back to Him, His people will "never again be put to shame." He says that twice (2:26-27).

Now, we know that later on in history, both Judah and Israel were taken captive and spent 70 years in captivity, so, what is God talking about? Simple. Look at verse 28: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those I will pour out my Spirit."

This isn't talking about some follow the rules and you'll be ok stuff. This is God saying that His Spirit will come and dwell with and within man. This is the reason why His people will never be to shame again. Listen, we WILL NOT be put to shame. Why? Look at Romans 5:5: "and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

There is the fulfillment of Joel 2:28-29. It is through God's Holy Spirit that we have hope, and that hope is a symbol of love which will not put us to shame. It is also through God's Holy Spirit that we have our spiritual gifts, which include all manner of prophecy (verbal prophecy, dreams, and visions).

So, this is my challenge, based on my readings and diggings tonight: rend your heart before God. Be broken before Him over your sin and call upon His name as your source of life and meaning, and you will not be put to shame.

Redemption: How sweet it is

"And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me 'My Husband' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.' For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord."

What a beautiful promise we have from the Lord! A promise, given in the midst of turmoil and unfaithfulness, to Israel and, by extension, to the Church.

How often do we run from Christ, the Husband of the Church? How often do we "go after [our] lovers, who give [us our] bread and water, wool and flax, oil and drink"? (Hosea 2:5) It is God who gives us those things, and yet we seek them in our new baals. These gods the Israelites worshiped were supposed to have power and control over the land and weather, so they would sacrifice and worship them, when all the while, God is saying, "I gave that to you!" Our modern society has grown technologically to where we no longer think that way, and yet, we still have our own false gods and our idols: money, success, pleasure, satisfaction, laziness, etc. We see these things and we chase after them because we think, "That is where I find my validation; that is where I find my joy," not know that God is saying, "No! You find that in Me!"

And, still, in the midst of this, God says that He will bring them back unto Himself and "betroth you to Me forever." In other words, the Church will be married to Christ, and we will no longer search for those things outside of Him. Just as Hosea's wife was a prostitute, so we are here. We leave Christ in search of things that we think are better. How miserable humanity is! We leave a faithful, loving, gracious Husband to whore with the baals and idols sin offers. But, God redeems us as Hosea redeemed Gomer. Check it:

"And the Lord said to me, 'Go again, love a woman who is loved by another manand is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.' So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barely." (Hosea 3:1-2)

Hosea bought his wife out of the life of adultery and prostitution and freed her from it! She never had to return to it again. Remind you of any other Husband you know?