1 Peter 2:13-25
13Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." 23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Chaotic Dreams and Secular Humanism
I've had a wierd combination of places I have been over the weekend, discussions with people, doing ministry to a kid, and a goofy dream that have come together in a sort of coherent way.
The dream was that I was driving down the interstate, and I looked ahead of me and saw people walking cows across the road - that seemed strange, so I slowed down and was stopping when I noticed that the people and cows were on the other side of a big river that went under the interstate, except that there was no bridge. The bridge was completely out - in fact, it seemed like the bridge was just gone - like it had never been there. I pulled over to the left - there were cars on the other side still coming this way - I guess they had a bridge.
To my right a big truck slowed down to avoid falling into the river. It went off the edge of the highway, but it turned around somehow and avoided the plunge. Then the dream did one of those fast-forward kinds of things that dreams do. Then I was standing on the side of the road, watching all the cars stopping and trying to figure out how they would go on. About 100 cars or so at one time were trying to push the cement median wall out of the way so they could go onto the other side to keep going. All the cars were pushing in a continuous motion, kind of like a bunch of guys using their shoulders to move somethingtogether. The cars all busted down the wall and they started driving this way and that, scrambling to get out of the stopped up jam of traffic.
Some people had got out of their cars to wait for the traffic to clear, and when the cars started their frenzied motion, cars started wrecking into each other. I watched helplessly as cars smashed over people - adults and kids. Whole families were mowed over as one car crashed into another and pushed into another. A little child holding a teddy bear was smashed between the bumper of one car into the next.
It was total chaos and mayhem - the kind that made my stomach turn.
This dream came alive in application as I talked to a friend about college ministry. So many churches are doing nothing to try to re-evangelize (Have I done a post on "re-evangelism? - I'll check, but if not, I'll put that on the to-do list) college students. They are growing up in a world that is crazy and stupid - like all the cars trying to bust their way out, just so they could move. One of the greatest griefs I have is for all the students that I have worked so much with - kids who grew up in church and in supposedly Christian families, who have gone spiritually south when they graduated from High School. I can see them crashing into each other, ruining their lives, scarring themselves with destructive stuff, and I'm watching on the sidelines.
It seems like too many churches are sitting there also, watching it all, saying, "What do we do?"
I also ministered to a kid that was having some family issues - I won't go into it on this public blog, but it was another one of those things like watching the cars crash into the kids.
I guess the real issue is that I don't want people to raise their kids like humanists, but call themselves Christians. If being lukewarm would cause God to spew us out of his mouth, then surely we need to throw up at the thought of chasing after the world. I want to throw up at the thought of watching people hurl themselves at the world, while they crash their lifestyles and their ambitions into the hearts and lives of kids. I want to throw up at all the years of my life I wasted, calling myself a Christian but thinking like a secular humanist.
I think one of the blessings and the curses of doing camp ministry is that kids can be removed from the world and its garbage - they can focus on God and hear his voice here. It's awesome that God can speak to them here, but why does it have to just be here? Shouldn't God be speaking to them in their Christian homes? When they leave here, they just go back into the cultural muck. I am on the side of the road watching it happen. I wish Godly families would exalt the ways of God and not the world. Alas.
Yes, I am meloncholy today, but that is ok, and right, and good, because we need to mourn over the things that break the heart of God.
jc
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
James 4:7-10 ESV
The dream was that I was driving down the interstate, and I looked ahead of me and saw people walking cows across the road - that seemed strange, so I slowed down and was stopping when I noticed that the people and cows were on the other side of a big river that went under the interstate, except that there was no bridge. The bridge was completely out - in fact, it seemed like the bridge was just gone - like it had never been there. I pulled over to the left - there were cars on the other side still coming this way - I guess they had a bridge.
To my right a big truck slowed down to avoid falling into the river. It went off the edge of the highway, but it turned around somehow and avoided the plunge. Then the dream did one of those fast-forward kinds of things that dreams do. Then I was standing on the side of the road, watching all the cars stopping and trying to figure out how they would go on. About 100 cars or so at one time were trying to push the cement median wall out of the way so they could go onto the other side to keep going. All the cars were pushing in a continuous motion, kind of like a bunch of guys using their shoulders to move somethingtogether. The cars all busted down the wall and they started driving this way and that, scrambling to get out of the stopped up jam of traffic.
Some people had got out of their cars to wait for the traffic to clear, and when the cars started their frenzied motion, cars started wrecking into each other. I watched helplessly as cars smashed over people - adults and kids. Whole families were mowed over as one car crashed into another and pushed into another. A little child holding a teddy bear was smashed between the bumper of one car into the next.
It was total chaos and mayhem - the kind that made my stomach turn.
This dream came alive in application as I talked to a friend about college ministry. So many churches are doing nothing to try to re-evangelize (Have I done a post on "re-evangelism? - I'll check, but if not, I'll put that on the to-do list) college students. They are growing up in a world that is crazy and stupid - like all the cars trying to bust their way out, just so they could move. One of the greatest griefs I have is for all the students that I have worked so much with - kids who grew up in church and in supposedly Christian families, who have gone spiritually south when they graduated from High School. I can see them crashing into each other, ruining their lives, scarring themselves with destructive stuff, and I'm watching on the sidelines.
It seems like too many churches are sitting there also, watching it all, saying, "What do we do?"
I also ministered to a kid that was having some family issues - I won't go into it on this public blog, but it was another one of those things like watching the cars crash into the kids.
I guess the real issue is that I don't want people to raise their kids like humanists, but call themselves Christians. If being lukewarm would cause God to spew us out of his mouth, then surely we need to throw up at the thought of chasing after the world. I want to throw up at the thought of watching people hurl themselves at the world, while they crash their lifestyles and their ambitions into the hearts and lives of kids. I want to throw up at all the years of my life I wasted, calling myself a Christian but thinking like a secular humanist.
I think one of the blessings and the curses of doing camp ministry is that kids can be removed from the world and its garbage - they can focus on God and hear his voice here. It's awesome that God can speak to them here, but why does it have to just be here? Shouldn't God be speaking to them in their Christian homes? When they leave here, they just go back into the cultural muck. I am on the side of the road watching it happen. I wish Godly families would exalt the ways of God and not the world. Alas.
Yes, I am meloncholy today, but that is ok, and right, and good, because we need to mourn over the things that break the heart of God.
jc
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
James 4:7-10 ESV
Memorized Today 1 Peter 2:4-12
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says:
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame." 7Now to you who
believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
"The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone,"
8and, "A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall."
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Managing the Chaos
It seems like the time around Christmas is one of the most busy times of the year for many people. I heard a friend tell me the other day that he had something happening every single night up until Christmas. Now, I hope that I don't make life busier for people by the things I do. We just finished up the kids Christmas program at Church, which is an effort that few people understand, but it basically took about six months.
Six months, and within those six months, we have changed jobs, moved, cleaned out an old house, cleaned out a camp (still working on that, actually) and have tried to adjust to a new schedule, pace, and lifestyle. I enjoy the Christmas program work so much, and I had thought that maybe I would take a break from that next year (Since I would be a church volunteer!), but last night I learned something interesting.
I was talking to the kids last night about the whole celebration of Christmas. I asked them what was important to them, and they said, "going to Grandma's" and the Christmas program. Those two things are what they think of when they think of the celebration of Christmas. It hit me at that moment that the reason I haven't been real excited about decorations and trees and lights and all that jazz was that the Christmas program was over, and I was ready to move on. And the kids kind of think the same way.
I knew they enjoyed working on the program, but I didn't realize how important it was to them.
BA did a sermon Sunday about the question, "Are you ready for Christmas?" His point was that it is much more important to be ready for the Day of the Lord. I have spent so much time obsessing about "being ready for Christmas" that I missed the importance of prayer and Bible study - listening to the voice of God.
I have been studying and memorizing 1 Peter - I've got chapter 1 and 3 verses of chapter two as of this morning. 1 Peter is our text for camp this summer. 1 Peter 1:3 says, "In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope that can never perish, spoil, or fade - kept in heaven for you..."
Life with Jesus Christ is a living hope - not a dead hope. Putting all your stock in the business and glories of Christmas is a dead hope. The Christmas tree, with all it's beauty, after it is cut and stuck in a stand in your house, is a dead tree. It will be thrown out and it will decay. Now, I am certainly not against decorating or having Christmas trees, but I wonder how many people misplace their Christmas "hope" into something that is a dead hope, and not a living hope.
God loves beautiful things - even decorated, pretty, wonderful things. Surely heaven is not built out of ugly concrete blocks. The Tabernacle was one of the most wonderfully beautiful things that God's people put together, all under God's careful instruction. The temple that Solomon built was glorious and beautiful beyond description. But when God's people started worshipping idols and turning away from God, God allowed that beautiful building to be destroyed. Even the temple during the time of Jesus was beautiful, but horrible and disgusting things were done there, and God again allowed it to be destroyed.
If anyone ever asks me again, "Are you ready for Christmas?" I will ignore the fact that it is a dumb question and ask myself, "am I ready to face God?" So, I will hopefully answer YES!
Six months, and within those six months, we have changed jobs, moved, cleaned out an old house, cleaned out a camp (still working on that, actually) and have tried to adjust to a new schedule, pace, and lifestyle. I enjoy the Christmas program work so much, and I had thought that maybe I would take a break from that next year (Since I would be a church volunteer!), but last night I learned something interesting.
I was talking to the kids last night about the whole celebration of Christmas. I asked them what was important to them, and they said, "going to Grandma's" and the Christmas program. Those two things are what they think of when they think of the celebration of Christmas. It hit me at that moment that the reason I haven't been real excited about decorations and trees and lights and all that jazz was that the Christmas program was over, and I was ready to move on. And the kids kind of think the same way.
I knew they enjoyed working on the program, but I didn't realize how important it was to them.
BA did a sermon Sunday about the question, "Are you ready for Christmas?" His point was that it is much more important to be ready for the Day of the Lord. I have spent so much time obsessing about "being ready for Christmas" that I missed the importance of prayer and Bible study - listening to the voice of God.
I have been studying and memorizing 1 Peter - I've got chapter 1 and 3 verses of chapter two as of this morning. 1 Peter is our text for camp this summer. 1 Peter 1:3 says, "In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope that can never perish, spoil, or fade - kept in heaven for you..."
Life with Jesus Christ is a living hope - not a dead hope. Putting all your stock in the business and glories of Christmas is a dead hope. The Christmas tree, with all it's beauty, after it is cut and stuck in a stand in your house, is a dead tree. It will be thrown out and it will decay. Now, I am certainly not against decorating or having Christmas trees, but I wonder how many people misplace their Christmas "hope" into something that is a dead hope, and not a living hope.
God loves beautiful things - even decorated, pretty, wonderful things. Surely heaven is not built out of ugly concrete blocks. The Tabernacle was one of the most wonderfully beautiful things that God's people put together, all under God's careful instruction. The temple that Solomon built was glorious and beautiful beyond description. But when God's people started worshipping idols and turning away from God, God allowed that beautiful building to be destroyed. Even the temple during the time of Jesus was beautiful, but horrible and disgusting things were done there, and God again allowed it to be destroyed.
If anyone ever asks me again, "Are you ready for Christmas?" I will ignore the fact that it is a dumb question and ask myself, "am I ready to face God?" So, I will hopefully answer YES!
Monday, December 11, 2006
Turkeys in the Yard
These turkeys were literally right outside our back door. This is one of the reasons why Maranatha Bible Camp is so awesome. We saw a bald eagle fly over the other day. God is so good!
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matt. 6:26-27
Back on the Blunderblog
Just the first of many more blog postings to come - oh how things have changed since my last posting.
Back in the Blunderblog again!
jc
Back in the Blunderblog again!
jc
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