A Church Community

I was listening to a sermon today by Matt Chandler of The Village Church in Dallas, TX and he was discussing the result of the Gospel and he said something that I think a lot of our churches in America miss, but by God's grace some are starting to speak of. He said this:

"(The gospel creates) a community where no one gets to brag, but where everyone is broken but being healed"

I often times find myself not feeling super broken, I mean I am a seminary student, work at a church and have a great family. I fear often I in my heart brag over people, think I am better and whole and complete, think I have found my best life now. Then I hear a sermon like this that rocks my foundation and makes me uneasy and shows the broken jar I am. Thank God for moments like these that help humiliate me and help break me again of all pretensions and haughtiness I have. I am broken, we all are, we will not be fully healed this side of heaven, but we are in process, something that we have to cling to. The cross is not this place where immediate restoration to all things take place, instead for us it is the foundation we always walk on as we our on our journey. Our journey often times will not look like it is going forward, but by walking firmly on the gospel and with the cross in front of us we press on to make it ours (Phil 3: 12-14). Tomorrow night we start up the spring semester at "The Well" a college gathering of Desert Springs Church, I hope to by God's grace to come with humility and brokenness and that others will begin to do the same. I hope that we see ourselves as messy, jacked up, broken punks that deserve hell, that do not deserve grace and salvation, but by the grace and the grace of God alone we come to Jesus as beggars, drunkards, horrors and wretches and cling to the foot of the cross as our one and only hope for healing. That our foundation is not longer in the law of right and wrong, but is the cross of Christ. And our cleanliness is not if we do not cuss or look at pornography but is in the washing of ourselves in the blood of Christ.

What a blessed way to start the week, not by saying I am good and everyone likes me, but by saying I am a piece of crap and the Lord loves me anyway!!!!

Such As....I Believe....Such As....

1 more post today to finish the week on a painfully humorous note:

One History

“We read [scripture], naturally, as part of our real history, secular history, the history of which we are a part. What other history is there? There are not different histories, but there are different ways of understanding history…it is clearly an illusion to imagine that there are two kinds of history - sacred and profane, salvation history and secular history.”
- Lesslie Newbigin in Foolishness to the Greeks

Props: Todd Hiestand

What, The World Will NOT End If Hillary Wins??!!??

According to Albert Mohler the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, as Christians we should be wary of thinking that putting a Christian or conservative in the White House will solve everything. In other words politics is not a basket we should be putting all our eggs, most of our eggs or really some of our eggs in.

The rhetoric of the race -- and the rhetoric of many evangelicals -- is disturbing. This race is important and necessarily so. We are talking about the next President of the United States, after all. But evangelicals have invested far too much hope in the political process. No government can make people good, transform humanity, or eliminate sin. The political sphere is important, but never ultimate. Jesus Christ is Lord -- and He will be Lord regardless of who sits in the Oval Office.

Does this mean that I will stop supporting The Huck, no, but what it means is that win or lose Jesus Christ is the only true hope for the world, for the country and for my soul. I believe as Christians living in this world we need to be active in the political sphere to an extent, I will not worship George W. Bush (sorry 700 club). I believe that we should be aware of candidates and do research on them on specific issues, such as abortion and poverty and yes even the environment ( God did tell us to be stewards over His world after all!). I am fiercely opposed to abortion in ALL circumstances and will not support a candidate that thinks killing a baby is a choice that should be protected by the constitution. However I do not believe that if we outlaw abortion which we should, that that would be an end in itself. Jesus again is the only hope for the drug dealer, the homeless man, the homosexual, the suburban soccer mom, Britney Spears, Carlos Griego and yes Chuck Norris too!

Click here for Albert Mohler's complete article, it is worth a read!

Props Between Two World's

John The Baptist's Message

Christopher Wright in his book "Knowing Jesus Through The Old Testament" has a great commentary on what John the Baptist's message was.

"One can imagine the stirring of hearts an quickening of pulses in Jewish homes and communities when, into this mixture of aspirations and hopes dropped the message of John the Baptist, and then of Jesus himself-

The time is fulfilled!(what you have been waiting for as something future is now here and present); the kingdom of God is at hand! (God is now acting to establish his reign in the midst of you); so repent and believe the good news (urgent action is required of you now)."

Wright's commentary within the message shed so much light for me on what John was proclaiming. To understand the magnitude of this proclamation one has to have a good historical, biblical understanding of the Jews in the Old Testament. This statement was groundbreaking, this statement was long awaited, this statement was not accepted. What does a statement like this have for us in the 21st century? Is this statement earth shattering for us who have no concept of something be long awaited??

I fear that we read this proclamation and we clap and maybe smile, but do we fall to our knees, do we see the amazing promise and faithfulness of God vividly displayed? Do we get the urgent action required of us? To repent and believe, do we?? Do I??

The Dark Knight

The new Batman movie looks sweet!! I thought that only Jack Nicholson could pull off the role of the Joker, but Heath Ledger looks to be a good fit. This summer is going to be a sweet summer for movies!






Click here for the Official Dark Knight Site.

Knowing Jesus

I know that Z just recommended this book, but I am doing the same. Knowing Jesus is a great book for anyone that struggles through the Old Testament in how it to the New. Here is a cool quote:

"When Matthew announces Jesus as the Messiah, the son of Abraham, then, it means not only that he belongs to that particular people ( a real Jew, as we have just seen), but that he belongs to a people whose very reason for existence was to bring blessing to the rest of humanity. He shared that mission, and indeed, as the Messiah, he had come to make it a possibility and a reality at last. A particular man, but with a universal significance."

Here is another quote where Wright is discussing the line of Jesus and how only a few women are named and these women are not jews.

"But probably more significant is the other thing they (the women of Jesus' genealogy in Matthew) all have in common. They were all, from a Jewish point of view, foreigners."

"The implication of Jesus being the heir of Abraham and his universal promise is underlined: Jesus the Jew, and the Jewish Messiah, had Gentile blood!"