A Christmas dream

When you think of Christmas, what comes to mind?  Doesn't presents, joy, Santa, or even the birth of Christ come to mind for most people?  I think Christmas is a really great time of joy and celebration and is meant to be shared with family as well as a sense of worship for Christ's birth.  I love this message of real joy that is found within family and the worship of Christ.  I would like to bring to light one thing that I think is also found in the joy of Christmas, and that is the hope of the kingdom that Christ has brought to us.
In my last blog, I talked about praying for God's kingdom to come.  The kingdom is here, and we are to be apart of bringing about the kingdom to earth.  This is an amazing hope that all of humanity can experience with each other as well as with the God of the universe.  This is a great joy that we can see through the Christmas narrative where the King, the God of the universe, comes in the very form of a human child.  When we picture that scene, I believe that we can see the kingdom come to earth as a possibility.
When Christ began his ministry to the disciples and the people of Jerusalem he would often use the phrase, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is near" (see Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15; Luke 3:8; 4:18-19, 43).  If this was Christ's message, then doesn't this also show us that Christ's birth was an invocation of the coming kingdom of God?  I believe, that Christ brought the kingdom of God to earth when he came in human flesh because this allowed for humanity to be relatable to God.  This does not mean we our ourselves little Gods running around the earth, but we have an example to live by from his message and life.
A really cool way to see this as well is through the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Father brings about the Son to earth, the Son is one who relates to both God and humanity, and the Spirit is the one who works within Christ's ministry and within our lives today!  All three persons wrapped up in the nature of the Godhead invoke the beautiful kingdom of God unto earth and are calling humanity to participate with the Godhead in bringing about the kingdom!  This is great hope to us today as we can be involved with this kingdom that is already here, but is in need of our participation for the fulfillment of the kingdom.
I have an extreme passion for understanding the kingdom of God, the beauty that this kingdom brings to humanity.  It is so hard to understand how this can be lived out.  I find myself asking the question saying, okay, so what?  This question has had me wondering just what to do, but understanding that the kingdom does not come by our hands alone is important.  I do not wish to state at the end of this a list of things you must do in order to bring about the kingdom.  I do believe things like reaching out to the poor, helping the hurting, reaching out to the lost, and etc. are very important in bring about the kingdom.  Try to do these things and really listen to peoples stories because we all have them.  I really believe though, that when each of us prays that God's kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven, we can really see what the Christmas narrative is all about.
Let us all pray for God's kingdom to come.  Let us live an example of what Christ has done.  Read what Christ did, live by Christ's example.  We do not have to actually die on a cross to prove a point to people.  Nevertheless, let us show one another love and the joy that we can have this Christmas by reaching out to others and really praying that this kingdom may come.

The kingdom has come!

Finding God in our day to day lives can be one of the easiest things to miss.  Yet, many people find hope in a God who has come and who is bringing His kingdom on earth.  This hope that people find is through the coming kingdom of God.  There are many facets of the kingdom and how the idea and hope of the kingdom has brought to us.  Continuing to look to the Lord's Prayer for support of our Christian mission to bring about the kingdom is important to understand.

Again, the Greek text is important to highlight when looking at the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6: 9-13).  The Greek says, "ejlqevtw hJ basileiva sou` genhqhvtw to qevlhmav sou, wJV ejn oujranw/: kai ejpi gh:V` (Matt. 6:10)." 

This text, I believe, is translated as, "the kingdom of yours it came (!); your will it has been done (!) as in to heaven and on earth."  The previous verse about God's holy name allows the prayer to flow through a process of worshiping the holy God of the universe to call on God's name to bring about His kingdom.  This kingdom, it has come, it has been done by God's will, and it has been done in heaven and on earth.  This are things that have already happened, but the Greek does not stop there.  Both words "came" and "done" evoke the idea that is not only defined as what has already happened, but what is still happening.

As I said in my last blog, God invites His creation to participate through a divine and human relationship.  This relationship was brought was the purpose for creation.  God walked on the earth during the time of Adam and Eve.  Yet, some believe that God does not walk amongst us even today.  If God would want to have a relationship with His creation, yet did not walk with us in our world today, it would deny the very being of God.  So, why do we say that God walks among us yet live as if God is not even a thought within our minds?  A key dynamic of this bringing about of the kingdom is that it shows that God is still at work.

God offers us to participate with Him through creation.  This divine and human participation is brought on by the coming of the kingdom.  The kingdom is what is known as the already/not yet.  The kingdom is here and in our midst, but it is not fully brought about.  God has His own timing to bring about the fulfillment of His kingdom.  We are not to be spectators in this call to participate with God.  Humanity is called to be in relationship with God and in bringing about the kingdom.

There are many ways to bring about the kingdom and some are described within the rest of the Lord's Prayer.  Yet, there are poor and hurting people in the world.  We look around and we say where is God, but God's kingdom only comes when His people participate with His call of the coming kingdom.  Humanity must be willing to take a step of faith to reach out to the lowly and hurting.  When there are people in need, humanity must take a step of faith to help them.  Our world is in desperate need of people to reach out and help those in need.

I pray that you may pray this prayer in a new light.  That you may feel a burden to participate with God through the coming of His kingdom.  It is very hard for humanity to know what to do when we have needs of our own.  However, I believe that God will take care of us as well when we pray faithfully and ask for His kingdom to come on earth and for God's will to be done.  I pray that our world may be a people willing to reach out to the lost and broken for the sake of God's coming kingdom.

Our Father

"Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name (Matt. 6:9)."
This beginning phrase of the Lord's Prayer is very important for how we should view the God of the Universe.  This phrase that seems so simple, is packed with a great necessity for us to call the name of God to be holy, or the wholly other being.  The holiness of God is to be venerated by humanity, it is to be respected, lifted high above every name.  A good look at this verse will hopefully help you understand God's holiness in greater light.
The Greek text says, Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου, which is translated to say "Father of us the one in the heavens; hallowed the name of yours."  Again, it is important to state that the Greek does not do sentence structuring very well, but finding what the subject and objects in this sentence help to see what is important.  Since the subject Πάτερ is the phrases main focus, I would like to focus on this word and how the rest of the phrase gives meaning to who the Father is and how this Father is characterized.
First, the Father is "the one in the heavens."  Now, this phrase does not affirm that there are multiple heavens that God is in.  Nevertheless, the Father remains the provider and sustainer of the heaven and the earth.  God is the one is over and above everything.  This God is our Sovereign ruler who governs everything.  Humans can trust that God will be there for you in times of trouble and persecution.
Second, God's name is to be "holy" or "hallowed" which means to be separated.  This presents God as the "wholly other" that is far beyond our comprehension.  This God not only governs the heavens and the earth, but is held separate so as to say that God does not have, what Christians identify as, sin or a defect with our being that needs fixed.  Showing that God is the holy one presents God as one to be worshiped and glorified.
I have presented these ideas based on what most of us have understood God to be.  One area that I have been challenged in personally is that even though this God is "wholly other," this God is also in relation to His creatures.  This does not dismiss God's separateness or holiness, but this holiness is an example of how we are to live.  Let me explain this through the meaning of grace.
God's holiness presents a characteristic of grace that is accepting, forgiving, and loving.  Humans are welcomed into a beautiful relationship with the very God of the universe that created and seeks His people to be in relationship with Him.  The rest of this prayer gives meaning to how humanity can be in relationship with this God.  God shows that He wants to participate with His creatures, God calls us to participate with Him, to accept Him, and to truly love Him and worship Him.  As God's creatures, we do this by giving our lives to Him.
This giving of our lives involves a deep commitment to God that worships Him as the only thing we want.  Giving our lives can be a scary way to describe this, but God wants our full attention, He wants everything from us.  Its amazing to me how humanity is welcomed into this opportunity to be in relationship with the Creator but continually turn the other way.  Spread this news of God's love, begin to see God's creation as something that God truly loves.  If God's creation begin to see God this way and the world as something that God wants to participate in, then the world becomes a place that offers hope and love that can be life change.

Lord's Prayer

It is unbelievable how fascinating and powerful the Lord’s Prayer has been.  Numerous people over the years have used this prayer to invoke the mighty power of God to come into our very presence.  Yet, I have come to believe that even though many people pray this prayer; do not really know what it means.  Through a series of blogs that I am going to write I would like to focus on the Lord’s Prayer by looking at the Greek, what it means, and how it can be applied.  

I will not go into great depth but will only touch the surface of what it means because I believe that the Lord’s Prayer is not merely said to have communication with God, but so that His kingdom may be done through His people.

When looking at the beginning section of the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13 one would think that the Lord’s Prayer begins at “Our Father in heaven”, but I personally believe that it starts at “This, then, is how you should pray”.

To begin, the Greek text says, Ou{twV ou:n proseuvcesqe uJmei:V.  Now this may look weird but trust me this is really cool.  It is translated from the NIV as “This, then, is how you should pray”, where the NLT simply says, “Pray like this”.  I have come to translate this verse as “Therefore in this way you all must pray (!)”. 

The beginning word “therefore” (ou:n) points to what is said before this from verses 5-8.  After this most of this phrase comes from the one word proseuvcesqe which is translated as “you all must pray (!).  Why there is an exclamation point at that end is because Greek grammar calls this an Imperative which is defined as a “mood of command.”

From this understanding we can understand that Jesus, the one who is teaching how to pray, says “therefore” or “this, then” to indicate from the previous verse that you do not pray like the hypocrites (v.5).  But, prayer is supposed to be in your room, with the door closed and then pray!  My addition of the word “must” may not be accurate when looking at the original text, but Jesus sets the standard for how to pray and asks us to pray like this.

Prayer was an active part of Jesus’ life on earth, and he often left his disciples to go off somewhere else to pray.  Our lives get busy and hectic that we neglect our prayer life to God.  I do not believe saying this prayer is the only way to communicate to God, but prayer is important that he commanded his disciples to do. 

Prayer is not to be taken lightly, but is a sense of communication with God that we can have.  I encourage you if you have not taken the time to get away from the day to take time and pray.  Set time in your day to just sit and talk with God and ask Him to fill your day with His presence.  If you already do set aside time to pray I encourage you that it is not in vain, you may not see fruit of your prayers every day, but continue on.

Having Faith

It can be very hard to look at your day and see it as good.  Spiritually, emotionally, and physically our days can get rough and we do not know how to deal with them.  There are days,  however, were everything goes so well for us and nothing could go wrong.  Yet, there are other days were we wish we could just have them back and makes something better of them.  We want to be able to turn back the clocks and save that moment.
There are two solutions that I believe have become problematic when trying to solve our problems.  One, we blame others for the day.  We like to have the blame not on ourselves.  This happened in the beginning of the book of Genesis were Adam blamed Eve for giving him the fruit of the tree that they were commanded not to eat from (Gen. 3:12).  By this very example we like to live because it is not our faults that bad things are happening.
Another way that we like to try and solve our problems is by being optimistic of ourselves.  When a problem occurs in this persons life, they like to try and solve it on their own.  They do not want anyone's help and they try to set up "self-help" type solutions for their problems.  This allows them to be able to not have to tell anyone the bad things they have done.  This can leave a person in isolation and puts them in a rough spot. 
A couple of ways that I hope to bring to light as possible solutions to problems in life are through the following:
1) God created things that are good.  If you do not believe me, read the first chapter of Genesis.  Genesis speaks of a story of God that is created good.  God redeemed creation later by His Son who came to die on a cross that we may have hope.  This hope allows us to see the good of creation in the light that Jesus has brought to us.  God created the world as something good, it may be hard to see, but read over that first chapter and reflect on God's goodness and His creation that He offers us to participate in.
2) God created us for community.  Again, if you do not believe me read the Gospels.  Jesus was constantly with others and when he was not, he was in communication with God.  Jesus realized that he needed to rely on the Father to guide him, but he also needed to rely on his people, or the disciples, to follow him.  The disciples were in community with each other and Jesus.  Jesus became an example of how to live.  He taught them to become doers of the word.  These disciples shared with each other and were mentored by Jesus.
When pain and trouble come, it can be hard to look on the bright side of things.  The weight of the world may weigh so heavily on your shoulders that you want to isolate yourself or try to blame others for your problems.  You may fit one of these or you may not and may be dealing with something totally different.  But, hopefully this will encourage you to understand the goodness of creation and how every day is a gift that we can live in the hope of Christ that is lived out through community.  Be reliable on Christ and be accountable to one another.

Has "does God love you" replaced "are you going to Hell?"

A new catch phrase for many Christians today is "God loves you".  We say that God has sent His one and only Son to die on the cross just for you!  What an amazing new way to evangelize.  Now we can ask people "does God love you?"  If they do not know the love of God we then have an opportunity to tell them about God's amazing love.  But, has love just merely replaced asking people whether they are going to Hell?  I believe it has, and I believe that we are beginning to going from one extreme to the next.

I personally was not around during the era of the evangelism techniques of the early 1900's.  But, reading Christian history, many evangelistic techniques were to ask people whether they believed in heaven or hell and then to follow up with the big question of which do they see themselves going.  What a way to evangelize!  People are based whether or not they are living a good moral life.  Their relationship with God was not the more important question to ask.
It seems however, that today we seem to ask the question whether people have a relationship with God.  We ask whether they know God's love and know the price that God paid by sending His Son to the earth to die for our sins.  This time it is not based on how they live, but whether they have heard the good news and know they can have a relationship with Him.
Within these two different extremes of thought there is a theological ("study of God") difference.  The going to heller's think of God as the Sovereign, Almighty, Holy Divine Being that will judge us if we do not live a good life.  Some say that God will choose whether you go to heaven or whether we have the freedom to.  But, the main concern is if you want to punch your ticket to heaven, you better turn your life around and start acting right.
The other side sees God as an all loving all personal God.  God wants to have a personal relationship with you and He came down to earth in the form of a man to have that relationship.  This is where God is believed to have "not considered equality with God...and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself..." (Phil. 2:6, 8).  Jesus can relate to us, he shows us love and shows us how to love God and others.
Both of these are important to evangelism and is why I am writing this blog.  It seems that we have moved from one extreme to the next.  Yes, God is an all Sovereign being, but He is also all loving and relational.  God will love us because He created us and wants to have a relationship with us.  However, God will judge us for living an immoral life of idolatry and sin.
If evangelism is to bring people to a relationship with God, then it needs to focus on both of these extremes and bring them together giving balance to each.  The church has tended to walk away from other to fend for themselves when they converted from Hell to Heaven, and they do the same when the speak love.  Let evangelism be about loving others and helping them to see that heaven is not about getting your ticket punched for doing good works, nor is it based only on God's love, but it is about accepting God's love in our lives and then living that out.  We need people that are willing to walk others through that process to follow the example of Christ's life on earth and to have a relationship with God.

Is the Bible right?

Growing up, we are taught that the Bible is right on all issues.  Its easy to label that as a characteristic of the Bible because it is from God, so obviously it is right.  However, this blog post would be considerably be short if there was not something more to it.  Lately, within the Church of the Nazarene, controversy over the Biblical text has emerged.  Some challenge the Article of Faith on Scripture that now reads:
We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.
The challenge comes where it reads "inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation".  Within the Church of the Nazarenes last General Assembly (a gathering of Nazarene elders to discuss changes that may need to happen in the Nazarene Manual), someone believed the article should read: "inerrant throughout, and the supreme authority on everything the Scriptures teach". As we look more in-depth at this article, there may be a few things that need cleared up. 
First, what in the world is this word "inerrant"?  The word means "without error" or "incapable of error".  A second definition that I would like to explain is "divine inspiration".  This phrase shows that God has revealed Himself to the biblical writers of Scripture.  Some, on the issue of divine inspiration, say one of two things.  Either, God had complete control of the biblical writers and the writers wrote down everything that God told them to, or God worked through humans, but humans in their own way wrote what God revealed to them.
Understanding the way of divine inspiration is crucial to understanding this word inerrancy.  First, if God had complete control over the biblical writers, then we could by reason, state that the Scriptures are inerrant "on everything".  However, the Church of the Nazarene, and other denominations have agreed that God worked through the biblical writers humanness, so we could not describe the Scriptures as inerrant in all things.  (For a clearer interpretation of inerrancy and this issue see Thomas Oords blog: http://thomasjayoord.com/index.php/blog/archives/the_bible_and_evolution/).
Much of the challenge has come from a fundamentalist approach to looking at Scripture.  Funadmentalists believe that everything in Scripture is right and even go as far as to deny all of today's science.  They believe that science does not influence the Bible, but that the Bible influences science.  I do not believe either, neither do all Nazarenes, agree that modern science is right on every issue.  But, they do bring us to a deeper faith of God and the vastness of His creation.
I personally believe that the Nazarenes article of faith on Scripture does not need to be changed for several reasons.  1) God worked through humans in the writing of Scripture.  The Scripture has several contradictory parts that are not so important that deny our faith.  The Gospels, for example, have different ways to describe the gospel narrative.  Matthew, Luke, and Mark all tell the Lord's Supper story different than John.  So, do we say they are wrong, no we just say that the writers interpreted them differently.
2) The Scriptures are inerrant to revealing God's will concerning our salvation.  John Wesley, an early Anglican preacher and founder of Methodism, found Gods work of salvation through the Biblical narrative.  God reveals His love for us throughout Scripture.  The Scriptures speak to us of Gods work in our lives and the grace that He offers us.
I hope this helps you understand the challenges going on today not only within the Church of the Nazarene, but within other denominations as well.  If you would like more information of this topic, see either Square Peg by Al Truesdale, or All Things Necessary To Our Salvation by Michael Lodahl.

Forgotten God (Holy Spirit)

Over the summer I read Francis Chan's book Forgotten God.  I do not plan to go through this post and describe everything that Chan talks about through his book, but I would like to first recommend this book for those who may find interest in what I have to say.

Francis Chan's main argument in his book is that Christians have focused so much on God the Father and Jesus Christ that we have totally forgot about the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.  I believe that some from my own denomination do not even realize the impact the Holy Spirit has on our very lives.  I have been wrestling with the question if the Holy Spirit is even to be one with the Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) for how little it is mentioned in our postmodern society. 
Now, I am not saying that I have completely disregarded the Holy Spirit and its work in our lives.  But, I do believe that it has been neglected.
In the Biblical narrative, we find the Holy Spirit mentioned twice as key doctrinal points.  Acts 5:3-4 and 2 Corinthians 3:17 assert that "the Lord is that Spirit".  John Wesley asserted the Holy Spirit more than any part of the Trinity in his work on A Plain Account of Christian Perfection.  Wesley stresses the need for the Holy Spirits work in our lives as God begins to cleanse us back to His image.
I believe the Holy Spirit is necessary for this very purpose.  When Adam and Eve fell into sin by wanting to be like God (see Gen. 3), the Image of God (or Imago Dei) was ruined inside of us, and we all need to work of the Holy Spirit to cleanse our lives.  We, as humans, must be willing to admit our brokenness and and our need of God in our lives.  This is were God will then give us the grace we need and enter into our hearts to restore that image to His likeness.

Do not misunderstand me on this, I do not believe we become one like God and are not able to sin.  I believe that God restores our hearts so that we can communicate with God.  I also believe that the want to sin is not there.  We are still tempted by Satan and are still able to sin, however, our hearts want to serve God because of the Spirits entrance into our hearts.
This is why I believe the Holy Spirit is necessary for our lives.  Without the emphasis on the Spirit, communication and cleansing in our lives is not there!  Yes, Christ provides the way to God, and God the Father gives the grace so we can be His children, but it is the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit that we are able to listen to the Father calling out to us.

A God that is more than just knowledge.

What is the first thing that you think of when you think of God?  Some may think of a God that is great and powerful.  Others think of a God that has forgiven their sins and given them a ticket to heaven to be with Him.  You may ask other people and you may hear words like omniscience (all knowing), omnipresence (all present), and omnipotent (all powerful).  There is a deeper fact about of God that a lot of us miss.  When we explain these attributes of God, I believe that we are describing God's relational character that is all loving.
Yes, an all loving God is expected when we give attributes of Him sending His only Son to the cross to die for our sins.  But, we forget that we can have that relationship with Him.  Some of us may name off these attributes of God, but we have only been told these things.  Have you ever experienced God coming into your life daily and showing you His love?  Let me repeat that question for emphasis one more time.  Have you ever experienced God coming into your life DAILY and showing you His LOVE?
I read a book last year about God's holiness throughout the Bible.  The book gave a reference to John Wesley reading through the Bible to find attributes of God.  When he was done reading, one of the main attributes of God was His love.  After reading this I decided to try to do the same thing, but a different outcome came about.   I could see the amazing miracles that God was doing throughout the Bible, but I could not relate them to my life.
The more I grew to understand the characters of the Bible, they made an effort to have a deep relationship with God.  Moses wanted to see God, Elijah wanted God to make His presence known, David saw God as His strong tower over and over throughout the Psalms.  Even John Wesley throughout his journals uses Scripture and describes his personal experiences of seeing God work.
I hear a lot of people say that they cannot see God in their lives.  I have always wondered why people cannot find God when they seek Him.  Then my next question is are we truly searching for Him?
My professor told a story that when he was in college, he always tried to prove God through reason.  By his senior year, he did not believe in God because there is so much about God to know about based upon human reason, He could not be known.  He finished by saying that God came to him and simply said, "Are you done trying to prove me?  Now, let me show you who I am".
God does not come only when we search for Him.  God graciously comes to us daily searching for us.  We must hear God's voice in our very lives and listen to what He has to say.  When God speaks to your heart search for it as it's a hidden treasure.  Let yourself be open to God speaking into your life, hear what He has to say.  Do not search for Him aimlessly in hopes to gain knowledge about God, just listen to His voice as He comes to you DAILY yearning for a loving relationship with His people.

Taking a bigger step in life

When we are born our parents try to accomplish two things for their children to acheive.  One, to have them speak their first word; and two, for the child to be able to walk.  When we grow up, we begin to learn new things about languages and some even want to persue other languages of Spanish, Latin, and German. 

Our next step then, to be able to walk on our own.  We want to have our own job, our own car, etc.  We want to grow up, go away to college and begin a life on our own.  But, as we grow up, the process never really ends.  We continue to want to do more things, walk on our own, and try and live a happy life. We all like to continue doing bigger and better things. 

Unfortunatly, we have things that hold us back from doing bigger and better things.  I love what Alex and Brett Harris are doing with the Rebelution movment.  You can find what they are doing on their site at: http://therebelution.com/. 

In their book, Do Hard Things, they give an example of slave elephants in Africa.  These elephants are used to move and carry the heavy things for buildings and the like.  But, how could they get these elephants to do all of these things? 

As the elephant is a child, the workers tie the elephant down with a heavy chain that is tied down to a large tree.  The little elephant pulls and pulls against the chain and cannot break free.  Sooner or later, the elephant gives up and when the elephant is an adult, the workers tie the elephant down with a rope that is tied to a 2x4 piece of wood.

 



 

A lot of us, like these young elephants, tell ourselves that we are not able to do great things as we are younger.  When we are young we have so many amazing opputunities to do great things. 

Proverbs 20:29 says, "The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old".  We are able to do so many great things as we are young and the "old" have so many things to teach us from when they were young. 

 

Many may misunderstand this to think that we can do whatever we want as we are young.  This is why we need the older people to speak into our lives and we need to be willing to listen. 

I hope this encourages you to want to do greater things that may just be cleaning your room or mowing your lawn (or your neighbor's lawn).  You can do this and begin to point people to God, not by your words, but by your actions.  Talk to the elderly around you and be encouraged to do great things for God.

Is worship the same today as it was before?

You walk into a church and people gather around into their seats. People begin to chatter about their weeks. There is laughter and smiles all around you until a group comes out of a back room and begin to grab their instruments on stage. A man in a nice suit walks to center stage to greet the audience. After a short warm welcoming, another man (or woman) wearing jeans, a nice flannel shirt, and the a scruffy look (not a lot of women have this characteristic to them) walks to the microphone and welcomes you to join them in something called worship. After the welcome to worship, a song by the lastest Christian rock artist is played.

This is what a lot of us are used to when we walk into church. A lot of us even expect this when we walk into church. We plan on sitting down finding out about the week your friends have had, followed by a "hip" song to get things started. Sometimes worship does not feel right, we think that there is more to this whole worship thing. Acts 2:42 is no doubt my favorite verse to mention whenever I talk about worship. The verse says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

  The "they" here applies to the early Church founded by the disciples who were awakened by the Holy Spirit. These people were "those who accepted his (Peter) message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day". The key components that I want to emphazie are not the amazing message that Peter said, or the great music they probably sang after the message. I believe worship is based off of four key themes that are: the apostle's teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer.

1) Apostle's teaching. The apostle's teaching based off this passage is like the message that Peter proclaimed a little bit before this verse (vv. 14-41). In our churches today, the Pastor has a great oppurtunity to proclaim the message of Christ that is hope, grace, peace, and salvation for all humans who are willing to accept Him. But, I believe the pastor is not the only one who has this job; it is also the people in the Church. Those of us who teach Sunday School, lead small groups, and teach the children's ministry.

2) Fellowship. Fellowship is a great part of worship and which is why I am happy when I walk into Church and see people talking to one another. I believe it is not only a great way to get into people's lives, but also to find those people that you can confess to and have them walk with you through the rough parts of your spiritual journey. Fellowship is also a great way to find discipleship and mentoring partners that will teach us how we can truly worship God through their own walk with God.

3) Breaking of Bread. Many people believe that this only refers to that of communion. While I personally believe that communion has an important part in worship, this is not the only thing this verse could be referencing. This could just be feasting in general, like our Wednesday spaghetti dinners. I believe communion is a good way to serve in worship to God because it not only involves this breaking of bread, but it is something done in fellowship with one another.

4) Prayer. Prayer is a crucial time in worship that involves an act of communicating to God what the struggles in your life are. Prayer brings us on our knees before God to give Him praise for the week and to seek His guidance throughout the service. This is also done through fellowship with others through the pastoral prayer, and the closing prayer. This is also an important aspect that needs taught to many people of the Church.

All of these are all very important to a worship service. When we come to worship, one is not greater than the other. I encourage you as you finish this blog to find someone to talk to, ask someone to talk you through what worship means, and even have some questions ready for them. Find those people in your Church that seem to be in such a close relationship with God. Our goal is not to be like these people, but to worship in the way that leads us to a relationship with God.

Seeking and being vulnerable

I always dreamed of growing up whenever I was younger. I could not wait to reach the age of 30 and be able to do so many more things. Now, I am 21 and I have to much to do! Personally, I love having things to do; however, paying bills and looking for jobs and also maintaining a job is a lot of hard work. The world's economics is not helping that much with how the stock market is going as well as how our nation's leaders seem to not care as much to help out. There are many thing's that we are not prepared for whenever we grow up. I really wish I would have listened to the many people in my life who told me what being a grown up was going to be like. Many times I was told to save my money instead of spending it on things that I never really needed like I thought I did. When we are younger, I believe a lot of us think we have everything right. We are never wrong, and are always right. But, we are missing the bigger picture of life. A rich young ruler come's to Jesus in the same state as many of us do today. The young man ask's "What must I do to get eternal life?" Jesus replies, "Obey the commandments. Do not murder, or commit adultery, or steal, or give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor". The younger ruler replies in excitment (my addition) "All these I have kept!...But, what do I lack?"

There are two reasons why I like the young ruler. One, he seeks out Jesus to find out how he is supposed to live his life, and two, he admits that he does not have it all together. These are two important characteristic's that I wish so many people had. But, we neither want to search for help nor admit we need help when we find it. Here are a few reasons why I think these two characteristics are so important to discipleship. 1. They make us the seeker's. A seeker's job, in this case, is similar to the job of a seeker in the Harry Potter novel's. But, in this case, we seek out accountablity partner's in our lives and we go and talk to them. We need to become humble as Christ did. All human's on earth have been sought out by Christ because he created us and he loves us as his creation, and he did that by humbling himself to die on a cross. 2. We need to be vulnerable. The only way to become humble is when we are vulnerable to teaching, and being willing to listen and obey. It may start with just obeying your parent's, or it may go on to when someone say's to save your money for your future, to then simply obey. Another aspect of vulnerability can be in giving away your money to the poor as well. When we humble ourselves to the idea that we need help as other's in the world, when we begin to involve ourselves in the lives of others and recognize that we are just as messed up as they are, then I believe we have reached a humble state.

Discipleship in Jesus' time

The earth has had the greatest privilege to have the greatest man ever come and teach us the greatest message ever. The disciple's of Jesus never realized the impact that he would have on the world, but they knew that they wanted to follow him with their whole hearts. I always ask myself why the disciple's wanted to follow him so badly when they did not understand who he truly was yet. When we read Matthew 4:21 tells us that Jesus came to James and John, both sons of Zebedee, and called them to be disciples. The interesting thing is that the "immediately" left their boats to follow him (Jn. 4:22). My question here is why? Why would these men get up from their jobs and run right to Jesus? When kids reached the age between 7 and 12 they learned the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is often known as the Torah, or the first 5 books of the Bible. They did not just read the Pentateuch, but they learned everything about the first 5 books and even took the time to memorize them! We think of that as something so insane. Can you imagine waking up and quoting the book of Leviticus? Not many of us want to even read that book let alone memorize it. When student's reached the age of 12 they would learn the family trade. But, if they were good at learning the Torah, they would move on to study and memorize the rest of the Old Testament. If you were surprised when I told you that 7 and 8 year old's were memorizing the first 5 books of the Bible, then memorizing the rest of the Old Testament will blow your mind! This is so much more rigorous of a process that took so much effort as well as a true calling from God. Some of us will make an effort to read the Old Testament, but we could not even dream of putting the amount of effort into memorizing it all. When these students would reach the age of 15, they would work on becoming a Rabbi. This means that after all the teachings that they have received from the teacher's of the law, they would then follow any Rabbi that thought them as teachable. For example, a student would come up to a Rabbi and would ask to follow him. The Rabbi then would ask three questions. One, may be about quoting a passage of the Torah. The second, the Rabbi would maybe ask for the student to explain a certain passage of Scripture. The final question would be to ask the student to explain a more specific part of the law and how it applies to another part of the Old Testament. Following a Rabbi was a very difficult process and blew my mind the first time I ever heard about it. If you have read my last blog on discipleship (http://smith6261.blogspot.com/2012/07/discipleship.html) I mentioned that you need to look for someone who is a strong spiritual leader. Someone who is faithful to God and has good morals. When you find this person, ask them to teach you things about the Scriptures, ask them questions that you have, and tell them the struggles you are having in living what you have learned out. This is what these early disciples learned from when they were children, and we can follow God just as faithfully today even though we cannot quote all the Old Testament. Find someone in your church you can really trust and ask them to teach you. If you would like to do a deeper study on this, I encourage you to check out Ray Vander Laan. He does an amazing look at the history of the early teachings and even walks you through the land of Israel to show you what it may have looked like in the time of the disciples in his series titled "The Footsteps of the Disciples" (http://www.followtherabbi.com/).

Discipleship

Remember all the times listening through Sunday School talks hearing the word discipleship, and asking yourself what this word means. Well, participating in Sunday School is a form of discipleship making, and so is being at church. But, how many people recognize the weightiness of this word discipleship? I do not think many people truly understand what discipleship stands for. This word represents the Church, and show's us how we are to be like Christ here on earth. I would like to begin to devote a lot of my blog's towards what true discipleship means. Disciple making has been around for a long time, and has been passed on through generation to generation. Parent's disciple their children to become better parents then them, teacher's disciple their students to become smarter then they were. Discipleship goes on and on and is an important aspect in life. Long ago, a man named Jesus took with him twelve disciples. He taught them everything he knew, and he told them that they could do even greater things after him (John 14:12). As people teach other's, they expect them to grow into stronger people then even they were before. I believe that discipleship has become a needed part of church. Churches try to teach this to us, but we do not understand the true weight of this. What are we to look for, when are we ready to teach other's, and how are we to teach? Here are a few aspects to find in a teacher, and when I talk about teacher, I mean someone you are close to that you can trust. This person need's to be wise and strong in faith. Go to your pastor and asking him or her to help you find someone in the church that can really be a mentor in your life. I bet we can all remember back when we were children and our parents taught us to walk, to speak, then how to be mature people. They taught us how to grow up, but it involved a special relationship as well. We would not have wanted to learn from complete stranger's. In order to learn anything, there needs to be a relationship between the teacher, and the learner. We can teach people the greatest information they have ever heard, but if you do not mean anything to that person, what you have to say means nothing to them as well. My first year at college, I took a class called American Government, the name alone tells you that you want to fall asleep in this class. However, the first day, the teacher really poured out to the student's and was into what he wanted to talk about. It got me interested in what he had to say in class and found myself working hard than I needed to to take notes in his class. Teacher's need to be excited about what they teach. If they teach you things that do not excite them, what makes you want to even listen to them. They make the subject sound boring and uninteresting, and it makes the subject seem the same way when it is actually the teacher who is boring and uninteresting. These are two examples of discipleship that I believe are important in looking for a teacher. I believe that a strong, biblical teacher is needed in all of our lives and we neglect this so much because we all believe that we do not need it. We believe we are fine with the way we are, and we are not. We need people in our lives that we can have teach us and help us along the way. I encourage you to look for someone to teach you, and ask them to be a part of your life, and do not be afraid to open up to them. If you feel weird about doing this, ask some of the elderly people at your church to tell you stories about their lives. Get to know some people, find out about them, and have yourself open up as well. When you find someone you believe is a really strong Christian and has good morals, and is willing to teach you, allow them to teach you and listen to what they have to say.

Money and friends

A college student's nightmare, to me, is frustration with classes and managing all the work you have to do with an equal balance of haning out with friends. But, another equally important nightmare that I believe we college students have is struggle with personal finances. Personally, my finances has not been what it should be. With debt up to my eye balls and continuing to spend money on things that I do not really need, life gets hard. But, our world today makes it so hard to not spend money when you are hanging out with others. The world acts like you must go to a resturant, or have the latest video game system to have the greatest amount of friends and to be the coolest person there is. I would like to hope there is a different way around having friends and being cool. To make me happy, my mom always bought me whatever it is that I wanted as a kid. So, I guess you can say I was majorly spoiled as a kid. My mom wanted to make me happy as a kid,and after awhile, she began to get stressed out because she felt used. I never meant for that to happen and I do not like asking things from other people most of the time. I really believe that we try to impress people with all the things we are able to do with money instead of showing them how much we really care about them. Money does not need to be used to impress your firends with. We try to spend so much money to impress others when saving and putting our money to good use is something I believe that we are supposed to do. I do not have a great plan for saving money or anything like that. I would recommend reading Dave Ramsey's books on money however. But, what I really want to mention here is to not look at your friends as people that you have to impress, but people who are in your life to help you in this crazy world that we live in. I even recommend having your friends hold you accountable with money. Not by sharing all your bank information or telling them how much money you have, but to tell you when they think your spending to much. I have had friends who said that your not spending enought money, and I was dumb enough to believe them. Be sure to keep control of your money and balance that in your life. Be with friends and part of other activities not to please people, but to have fun and to enjoy life on earth theway God intended. This may not be much of a blog, but sharing my thoughts on things going on in my life that I have had to change around and I hope that this may encourage you as well.

My thoughts on creation

The universe is so complex in every way. We strain our necks to look up at the beauty of the stars in question of how they got there and what all they can do. I firmly believe that God made all of these little white balls of light and I also believe in a world that was created in more than six days. This may weird you out in hearing this, or you have heard that the world took longer than six days (I did not count the day of rest) and may wonder why people believe this. I am writing this blog mostly to get my ideas out there about this and to see what you think. I do not think this is the absolute right way because I cannot make that type of claim, but it is an opinion of mine. I have been reading a ton of science magazines lately about stars and how the world was thought to be made millions of years ago. I do not agree with everything science says, but science does believe that there is a Big Bang, or a time when all things came into being. This, they say, came from a huge explosion that happened that brought all things about, and we believe the same thing. We as Crhistians believe that God created all things out of nothing (or ex niliho). Christians and science can agree with this. But, science also says that the world took longer than seven days, and the Hebrew bible may also say the same thing. The Hebrew word for a day is yome (not able to provide actual Hebrew lettering). This word represents two crucial deffinitions that I believe to have a big impact. There is the traditional deffinition of a singal day (that is midnight to midnight) and there is a space of time. Why I would go with the latter deffinition is because scientists believe it took a while for the earth to cool, for the gases on the earth to decline and for oxygen and carbon dioxide to be the perfect mixture for there to be life on earth. I would like to think we can agree with science on this issue. I believe God can still have a role to play in all of this. Yes, God may not have created the world in such a short amount of time, but I believe that He took His time. God aloud all things in the universe to take time so that it would be perfect. God took His time with the world to make it absolutly perfect and I believe that it shows Gods amazing love for us. God took the time to give each star its name and then breathed it into existence. I believe God took the time to work with nature to make the earth just right. Scientists from Reason to Believe say volcanos covered the earth and were not able to produce the right amount of oxygen for life. So, I believe God was still at work and got to know nature, and new every grain of sand, and every plant so that when all the volcanic activity stopped, oxygen began to build and then God formed the birds of the air, the fish, and the animals that walk on dry ground. Finally, God created us, and breathed life into us. If anything I say in this blog is confusing feel free to post a question on facebook or twitter. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on my opinionated idea of creation :).