So I have asked God for patience for a while now.
Here is my piece of advice for all Christ followers: Never ask God for patience because I am convinced that He will be more than happy to oblige you. It's the quickest prayer you'll ever feel answered and the longest answer He will ever give you.
My new prayer: God, please help me to be impatient.............with myself.
With elevator music playing in my head,
Jesus Freak Out!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Risen!
He is Risen! This day is an awesome day. This is the day of all days in history. This is our day of celebration! We celebrate the greatest miracle.......no, it's not a miracle, it's God........we celebrate the best thing that ever happened to mankind and all of God's creation. This is the day that Jesus Christ came back to life. This is the fulfillment of such an amazing and providencial plan, there is just no way any man can deny the Truth of the resurrection. On this day, we celebrate our salvation!
The gospels talk about Jesus and the many people he appeared to this awesome day. He appeared to the women at His empty tomb (John 20:11-18), He appeared to His disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), He appeared to the disciples in their hiding place (Mark 16:14), and He appeared in many other places.
We cannot hide from the fact anymore, that Jesus came to this earth, died for our sins, and rose on the day after the Sabbath to fulfill the ultimate promise: taking on the burden of sin so that we might live again with Him! I am so excited, I can barely put into words what our Savior has done for us. I hope and pray for each of you this day as we celebrate this awesome gift. I pray for your devotion, perserverance, humility, and love for what Jesus mandated us to do: "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16:15 ESV)......that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name (Luke 24:47 ESV).......Feed my sheep...follow me (John 21:17,19 ESV).........and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19 ESV).
It's time to go and do. The harvest is ripe and we must tend to the fields. God bless you on this wonderful and joyous day!
Singing His Praises,
Jesus Freak Out!
The gospels talk about Jesus and the many people he appeared to this awesome day. He appeared to the women at His empty tomb (John 20:11-18), He appeared to His disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), He appeared to the disciples in their hiding place (Mark 16:14), and He appeared in many other places.
We cannot hide from the fact anymore, that Jesus came to this earth, died for our sins, and rose on the day after the Sabbath to fulfill the ultimate promise: taking on the burden of sin so that we might live again with Him! I am so excited, I can barely put into words what our Savior has done for us. I hope and pray for each of you this day as we celebrate this awesome gift. I pray for your devotion, perserverance, humility, and love for what Jesus mandated us to do: "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16:15 ESV)......that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name (Luke 24:47 ESV).......Feed my sheep...follow me (John 21:17,19 ESV).........and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19 ESV).
It's time to go and do. The harvest is ripe and we must tend to the fields. God bless you on this wonderful and joyous day!
Singing His Praises,
Jesus Freak Out!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Joy in His Pain
A while back I talked about how we as Christ followers take so much joy in the fact that Christ suffered on the cross for our sins. Remember that this is not a joy in knowing that Christ suffered, but a joy and comfort in knowing that He sacrificed Himself for the sake of all of us lowdown, no good sinners.
Today we remember that day over 2,000 years ago, when God sent His son Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb and blood offering for our sins. I suggest reading the small book by Lee Strobel titled "The Case for Easter." Within these pages, Lee outlines the true medical facts of crucifixion's brutality, and medical experts explain in excruciating detail, the agony that is the ultimate form of capital punishment. If you have seen Mel Gibson's "The Passion," it doesn't do justice to what really went on that day. I love that movie in its accurate portrayal of events and its authenticity, but it still cannot convey the tastes, smells, atmosphere, or emotions that someone may feel when witnessing such a gruesome sentence.
When we look into the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we consistantly see the pattern of injustices and pain that Christ had to endure to follow through on His and the Father's promise to become the final offering for the sin of the world. As we reflect on the events of this day, let's look at the meaning of today and what really happened. Read each of the accounts of His death when you get the chance and reflect on what was really occuring. Then ask this question: why is this day called Good Friday?
Pondering the obvious questions,
Jesus Freak Out!
Today we remember that day over 2,000 years ago, when God sent His son Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb and blood offering for our sins. I suggest reading the small book by Lee Strobel titled "The Case for Easter." Within these pages, Lee outlines the true medical facts of crucifixion's brutality, and medical experts explain in excruciating detail, the agony that is the ultimate form of capital punishment. If you have seen Mel Gibson's "The Passion," it doesn't do justice to what really went on that day. I love that movie in its accurate portrayal of events and its authenticity, but it still cannot convey the tastes, smells, atmosphere, or emotions that someone may feel when witnessing such a gruesome sentence.
When we look into the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we consistantly see the pattern of injustices and pain that Christ had to endure to follow through on His and the Father's promise to become the final offering for the sin of the world. As we reflect on the events of this day, let's look at the meaning of today and what really happened. Read each of the accounts of His death when you get the chance and reflect on what was really occuring. Then ask this question: why is this day called Good Friday?
Pondering the obvious questions,
Jesus Freak Out!
Celebration Meal
So our church just finished the Daniel Fast after 21 days. I was on the mostly raw/cooked veggie diet for the whole time, with a couple of days mixed in where I ate within the guidelines of our churches commitment (no meat, no sweets, and no dairy). So last night at midnight, myself and two other gentlemen from our men's group went out to Village Inn for the best meal of the day, breakfast.
Oh what a treat to douse my palate with sweet tea first. Then came the ham and cheese omlette (loaded with extra cheese, could have used a little more ham) and the scattered hash browns topped with a little ketchup and some Tabasco sauce to spice things up a bit. I finished that course of my meal off with three buttermilk pancakes (they were nothing compared to IHOP's though). Then it hit me. I was sitting there and the dessert menu began calling to me. I couldn't resist. Village Inn makes some of the best pies around so I had to order up a slice of French Silk. Lord, I am putting in my request right now. I hope the chef in heaven knows how to make French Silk pie because that will be all that I will eat when I get there!
Hallelujah what a meal. The fast was an awesome experience and something that I will duplicate in the future. Praise our awesome and wonderous Creator for what He is going to do this weekend in churches all around the country. May this be the year that Christ comes home to America and resides in our hearts. My prayer is for all those who do not know Christ, that when they attend church this weekend, and there will be many, that they will answer the knock at the door to their hearts.
Praying for the souls of America and the World,
Jesus Freak Out!
Oh what a treat to douse my palate with sweet tea first. Then came the ham and cheese omlette (loaded with extra cheese, could have used a little more ham) and the scattered hash browns topped with a little ketchup and some Tabasco sauce to spice things up a bit. I finished that course of my meal off with three buttermilk pancakes (they were nothing compared to IHOP's though). Then it hit me. I was sitting there and the dessert menu began calling to me. I couldn't resist. Village Inn makes some of the best pies around so I had to order up a slice of French Silk. Lord, I am putting in my request right now. I hope the chef in heaven knows how to make French Silk pie because that will be all that I will eat when I get there!
Hallelujah what a meal. The fast was an awesome experience and something that I will duplicate in the future. Praise our awesome and wonderous Creator for what He is going to do this weekend in churches all around the country. May this be the year that Christ comes home to America and resides in our hearts. My prayer is for all those who do not know Christ, that when they attend church this weekend, and there will be many, that they will answer the knock at the door to their hearts.
Praying for the souls of America and the World,
Jesus Freak Out!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Last Meal Request
I was watching a show the other day about a murderer on death row who claimed his innnocence until the day he was executed. On the night of his execution, his last meal request was pizza and soda. Respectable request. I, on the other hand, would have preferred a nice 20oz ribeye steak, medium rare, with a fully loaded baked potatoe, fresh steamed broccolli doused in butter, and a hot fudge sundae to top it all off. The symbolic American steak meal, at least in my eyes. The death row inmate chose a more symbolic meal in terms of simplicity and commonality. Again, in my opinion. But there was one last meal request that rocked the world because of its simplicity, its audacity, and most of all, its symbology: Christ's Last Supper.
When we read Matthew chapter 26, or Mark chapter 14, or Luke chapter 22, we read about Jesus sitting down to his last meal with his disciples. It was the simplist of all meals, both for that time and ours: bread and wine. But the sheer magnitude of its symbolic nature outweighs that of any other last meal on earth. During this meal, Jesus was not just eating with His favored guests right before he was to be crucified. He sending the world a message to be passed from generation to generation. That message was to be our new covenant with Christ when we meet Him again. The bread, representing the body, broken and handed over to us all. The wine, just as red, just as staining as human blood, representing what was to be poured out in sacrifice for the whole world the next day. Jesus was not just eating: Jesus was portraying the sacrifice of His body and blood so that we could memorialize that gift and remember His gift for all ages until we meet Him again.
There is no other final meal in history with such a sucker punch of symbolism. God has asked us to remember Him in a way we can all understand. As we remember this day when Christ ate his last meal, let us remember what it means to us, because come Friday, Good Friday, we will remember what he did for us in the flesh so that we all could live. Just as this is called Passion week, let all of us carry that passion around like a badge of honor; honor for the God we serve and the people we serve. Let's honor Him by remembering the broken and bloodied sacrifice for our sin and the world's sin. And let's not make Good Friday and Easter a holiday we remember once a year.
Remembering the meal,
Jesus Freak Out!
When we read Matthew chapter 26, or Mark chapter 14, or Luke chapter 22, we read about Jesus sitting down to his last meal with his disciples. It was the simplist of all meals, both for that time and ours: bread and wine. But the sheer magnitude of its symbolic nature outweighs that of any other last meal on earth. During this meal, Jesus was not just eating with His favored guests right before he was to be crucified. He sending the world a message to be passed from generation to generation. That message was to be our new covenant with Christ when we meet Him again. The bread, representing the body, broken and handed over to us all. The wine, just as red, just as staining as human blood, representing what was to be poured out in sacrifice for the whole world the next day. Jesus was not just eating: Jesus was portraying the sacrifice of His body and blood so that we could memorialize that gift and remember His gift for all ages until we meet Him again.
There is no other final meal in history with such a sucker punch of symbolism. God has asked us to remember Him in a way we can all understand. As we remember this day when Christ ate his last meal, let us remember what it means to us, because come Friday, Good Friday, we will remember what he did for us in the flesh so that we all could live. Just as this is called Passion week, let all of us carry that passion around like a badge of honor; honor for the God we serve and the people we serve. Let's honor Him by remembering the broken and bloodied sacrifice for our sin and the world's sin. And let's not make Good Friday and Easter a holiday we remember once a year.
Remembering the meal,
Jesus Freak Out!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Beauty of Creation...........from 24,000 Feet
The other day I had the distinct honor of helping a gentlemen fly his new aircraft out to Bend, OR for some repairs. It was literally a cross country flight and I can tell you that I have not stopped talking about it since I got back. It was an 11 hour flight with 2 stops in between. I must say, I was privileged to see some of the most beautiful scenery this country has to offer..........from an altitude of 24,000 feet! This flight really made me reflect on Genesis and what our wonderful Creator really sculpted out for His people.
"God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that is was GOOD" (ESV Gen 1:10).
I had plenty of time to marvel at what things God created. We flew directly over the Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, the Rocky Mountains, the Gulf of Mexico, the plains of Texas, and the Cascade Mountains. Throughout this entire flight, I was able to marvel at what God had made for us and how small I really was. What really amazed me was that in all of this, he decided to create a little nobody like me. But what's even more brain teasing is that he knew who I was from the dawn of time. He knew I would come into this world. It blows my mind.
What does this have to do with bringing people to Christ? So much. People don't realize that God, from the dawn of the ages, knew who was going to be born and when, who was goin
g to die and the precise moment in which their last breath would come. He knew the precise timing of their heartbeat and circadian rhythm of their sleep pattern. He knew it all. He orchestrated it all. He CREATED it all. We must let people know how much God loves them and how much He really knows about them, whether they want to believe it or not.
g to die and the precise moment in which their last breath would come. He knew the precise timing of their heartbeat and circadian rhythm of their sleep pattern. He knew it all. He orchestrated it all. He CREATED it all. We must let people know how much God loves them and how much He really knows about them, whether they want to believe it or not. In awe of His power,
Jesus Freak Out!
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