Louie Giglio - Laminin

Great video if you guys have never seen this. Take 8 minutes and watch it. You won't regret it.

New Study: The book of James

This week is a transitional week for our group. We are moving away from the book of Acts, hopefully with a better understanding of what our church should look like. Our next study will be in the book of James and we will stay with this short epistle through the weekend before Thanksgiving (an epistle is a writing, usually formal and usually in letter form, that is focused toward a specific person or group of people as an audience).

The Bible says that Christ will reveal Himself to us. His will is not something that we can necessarily find on our own through searching hard enough and reading enough academic/theological essays. His will must be revealed to us. The following scriptures demonstrate this (links are to the given chapter in its entirety):

Numbers 12:6 - He said, "Listen to my words: 'When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.

1 Samuel 3:7 - Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

Matthew 11:25-27 - At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. ²⁷"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Since God tells us that He must reveal Himself to us in order for us to understand, we should approach Bible study with this in mind. We should meditate on the Word and not just fly through it. We should give God an opportunity to speak and ourselves the opportunity to listen. 

So here's my challenge for this week: Read James 1:1-8 as often as you get a chance. Carry it with you in some way. Read it every morning or every night, but at the very least read it once daily. See how God will show the meaning of this passage to you in a very real and personal way over the next week. 

Double-0-Jesus: License to Heal

Here is the link to all of today's scripture references. Right click and open in a new tab to keep them all in one place!

This Sunday we talked about hearing the voice of God and deciphering God's Will. How do we ever know when something is the voice of God, with all the crazy ideas that flow through our heads over the course of any day given day? In Acts 10, which we looked at Sunday, we see that this revelation comes in three steps:

1. Setup
2. Repetition
3. Confirmation

God's will is still revealed in many of the same ways. Often times we'll feel led in a direction and see some paths "open up" for us or small oppoortunities fall in our laps. Other times God will just spend some time chipping away at our mindsets and preconceptions little by little. His revelation will most often come through reading His word, but often times when he has a plan for you, you will be convicted by His word multiple times. For example, You might not know what job he wants you in, but you may be repeatedly and vehemently convicted that God wants you to serve more, leading you to a better understanding of His will. Confirmation often comes after a leap of faith is made in the direction of obedience or as you begin to understand and look deeper. Many times these are the experiences that tell you that you are heading the right way. 

In the end of Acts chapter 9, we see an illustration of the power of God's name when used to perform His will. We can all say that things are done in the name of God. Words are cheap. God is after the intent of our hearts. Peter was very well-attuned to the will of God. At this point, he'd spent approximately seven years learning Jesus' teachings. He healed Aeneas by saying four simple words, "Jesus Christ heals you" (9:34). When God's will is at hand, His name carries unmatched power.

This is followed by Peter's raising of Dorcas/Tabitha in the following verses. We know that this is God's will because Peter was present all three times that Jesus raised people from the dead (Luke 7:11-14; Mark 5:22-43; John 11:1-44) and here will mimic Jesus' ways in this miracle (See Mark's account). He asked others to leave the room (see Mark 5) and then got down to pray. He said almost the same thing, only calling the woman by name, and took her by the hand, as did Jesus with the daughter of the Synagogue official. If we are called to live as Jesus lived then Peter was most definitely displaying a faith in God's will here.

Here's the big point, though: God's name means nothing when not preceded by the spirit. God's will is to do His will. In our prayers we may ask for things in Jesus' name and even want them in our heart. What God wants is a willing heart to do His work! By reading the word God reveals Himself to us, by being faithful to what he is showing us, our hearts will change. As they change we will see that our prayers change, too. What we used to pray for and not "see results of" we begin to see are sometimes on our agenda rather than God's. Through listening to His voice we will start to see a shift to praying more for His will and recognizing things that are our will and praying for them less. When we can surrender to doing His will in all circumstances rather than praying for the right scenario in which to do His will, He blesses that by granting power, peace and joy to His faithful and willing servants.

When you find yourself in a "prayer rut" in which you feel as if prayers are not being answered, I challenge you to examine the heart and motive behind your requests. Are you truly asking God for His will to be done and offering yourself as a vessel through which to carry it out? Are you seeking to hear His voice? His spirit always precedes His power, especially the power to heal our broken hearts and souls.

A Three-year Sabbatical: The Ultimate "Seminary" Education

 I'll be referring largely to two passages here, so I've pulled them up in a link. Click Here or any of the scripture references in the post for the passages to pull up all in one place!

In Monday's post, we discussed the brief background of S(P)aul and his story. Paul, as he is later known, was at one time the leading zealot of "Christian" persecution (I only use quotations because Christ's followers have not yet been called Christians). After his conversion he became the "Apostle to the Gentiles" (Gal 2:8) and the single largest contributor to the writings of the New Testament. The conversion might seem sudden but there was a lot of training that took place. By looking into Paul's other writings we can gain a more comprehensive view of his story.

Immediately after Saul is converted he begins to preach the word in Damascus, right where he was. His heroic escape (Acts9:25), however, comes later in the story after his second stay in the city. Galatians 1:11-24 is Paul's defense of his authority to preach, which we mentioned in Monday's post. Not only was he called by God, but he says in v.15-17 that when he was called, he "did not consult any man" or even "go see the apostles in Jerusalem" but instead went immediately to Arabia and then came back to Damascus. During his time in Arabia, we can assume that God revealed himself in many ways to Saul, based on Barnabas' testimony in Saul's defense (Acts9:27) and his own defense in Galatians 1:11-12.

In Acts 9:27, the word for "see" translates loosely. It could mean that he physically saw with his eyes, but also that he saw with his mind or even that he "became acquainted with by experience." We also know that one of the requirements for being an "apostle" is that you personally walked with and experienced Christ (Acts 1:21 separate link). The implications of this are very important. First of all, he would have been a normal disciple had he simply been taught by the Twelve but it took him three years (Galatians 1:18) to make their acquaintance. The second reason is that in reading Paul's letters in the NT you may be tempted to question certain things. He covers topics of Christian living in more detail than Christ himself did, and in many cases, says things that we have no record of Christ saying. If you believe Paul's experience to be true you will understand that anything he said outside of what issues Christ spoke specifically to are supplemental and not contradictory. They came from Christ's personal  revelation to Paul after his own death. He was preparing Paul to go out and preach to the Gentiles and teach them how to live and the audience would be much different that Christ's audience of religious Jews.

The second bit of proof is that Saul endured incredible amounts of punishment for his beliefs. Read the 2 Cor passage for Saul's account of his sufferings. This is not Larry King bringing your opponents on his show or picketing outside your home. Saul survived life-threatening, physical torture for his faith in Christ. Had this been a lie that he had fabricated, he would have lost EVERYTHING he had built up until the point of his conversion (remember, he was an ambitions man) and then been beaten within inches of his life for nothing and stuck to his guns? No person would do that. We can assume that there was something more than Saul himself behind his ministry. Additionally, the fact that he endured all that he did and lived speaks to the power of God to deliver His servants when they are faithfully attempting to fulfill His will. 

As you read through the New Testament and find challenging passages, try to find confidence in the fact that it was truly God-inspired and not just for that society at that time. Trust that it is God's voice being given to you. We are, after all, the gentiles in the "ends of the earth" who Paul was sent to minister to. See you Sunday!