Blog.

I’m a little behind on Derek Webb‘s music since he left Caedmon’s Call in 2003, (apparently he rejoined in 2007.  Shows how behind I am) but I’m finally getting around to soaking in his solo albums. (Mostly thanks to Spotify)  This song sums up many of my feelings about the state of the contemporary church.

“T-Shirts” from the I See Things Upside Down Album:

they’ll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they’ll know us by the way we point and stare
at anyone whose sin looks worse than ours
who cannot hide the scars of this curse that we all bare

they’ll know us by our picket lines and signs
they’ll know us by the pride we hide behind
like anyone on earth is living right
and isn’t that why Jesus died
not to make us think we’re right

chorus
when love, love, love
is what we should be known for
love, love, love
it’s the how and it’s the why
we live and breathe and we die

they’ll know us by reasons we divide
and how we can’t seem to unify
because we’ve gotta sing songs a certain style
or we’ll walk right down that aisle
and just leave ‘em all behind

they’ll know us by the billboards that we make
just turning God’s words to cheap clichés
says “what part of murder don’t you understand?”
but we hate our fellow man
and point a finger at his grave

chorus
they’ll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they’ll know us by the way we point and stare
telling ‘em their sins are worse than ours
thinking we can hide our scars
beneath these t-shirts that we wear

The people at the conference I attended spoke of the difficulty of trying the “traditional” model in the Arabic world, and how people often responded in very rude, offended, and sometimes hostile manners.  If I remember correctly, one of the speakers was even arrested in the middle east for blasphemy.  Traditional evangelism would imply a Muslim believer would have to renounce Islam, accept Christ, attend a church and stop wearing those funny clothes.  In trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, we are basically insulting their culture, their families, beliefs, and traditions.  Being Muslim is much more than having a certain set of beliefs.  It’s an IDENTITY and the CULTURE of an entire group of people.  Asking them to “convert” and become “Christian” is asking them to give all that up.  It’s like asking a stereotypical American west-coast-long-hair-surfer-dude to become Chinese.  He may be able to get paperwork that says he’s a member of the Chinese nation and he can learn to speak mandarin, but he’ll never truly be Chinese.  He’ll never be completely accepted by the native people.  He’ll always feel somewhat out of place, because his culture and identity is a west-coast-surfer-dude.

Consider this visual:

The big circle in the middle represents the Kingdom of God.  The small circles represent the various cultural belief groups: C=Christians, M=Muslims, J=Jews. (you could substitute others)  With the traditional model, we’ve tried to get the people from the other small circles to “convert” into whatever circle we’re in.  This is where I believe we’re misguided, and it is rarely effective.

Let’s take another look:

In this model, the outreach goal is refocused on guiding people into the Kingdom of God, not one another’s smaller circles.  The idea is that a Jew or Muslim can be in the Kingdom of God and still be a Jew or a Muslim.  They don’t have to look like “us” in order to be loved by God and invited to live in the Kingdom.  The common bond between all people that enter the kingdom is that there is ONE way in.  This is represented in the picture by the arrows pointing to the Kingdom circle.  Think of all three arrows representing the same thing: the “straight path”; the “way”.

If you ask a Muslim believer to define what the straight path is, “Jesus” probably won’t be their first answer.  But, if your conversation starts with the Qur’an and fill in the gaps using the Old Testament/Psalms, it becomes increasingly clear that Jesus is the messiah and more than just a prophet.  As more questions are raised about who Jesus was, the gospels can be introduced into the conversation.  Then you encounter a passage where Jesus says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…” (John 14:6).  To a Muslim, this passage might be paraphrased: “I am the straight path...  No one enters into the Kingdom except through me”…

Once a person accepts Jesus as the way, the messiah, the savior, they move into the Kingdom.  That doesn’t mean they have to start attending your church, speaking “christianese“, and go on a steady diet of Tomlin and Hillsong worship music.  In fact, Muslims can still go to Mosque and continue the traditional prayers 5 times a day.  (I’ve heard stories of entire Mosques becoming Muslim followers of Jesus.)  Jews can still celebrate the traditional feasts and customs of their heritage.  After all, the goal of most (all?) of these traditions is to honor God.  Who can argue with that?

The goal is to engage people in love, honoring instead of insulting, building relationships using common ground to launch meaningful conversations that get straight to the heart.

Next up – “Israel: EPIC”

In my last post, we looked at the importance the Kingdom of God and why it is integral in discussions with those of the Islam faith.  In this post, I want to examine the traditional view of Christian “evangelism” and why I believe outreach to the Muslim community (and many other backgrounds) as a whole has not been very effective.

First of all, I really dislike the word “evangelism”.  It brings to mind memories from my fairly conservative upbringing of gospel tracts, door knocking, and awkward, forced conversations that consisted of trying to shove the “good news” down the throats of some poor unsuspecting neighbor. (who was probably a member of the local Baptist congregation anyway)

Ok, so I didn’t really do much door knocking and handing out of tracts, but I know a lot of people who did.  And I’ve had conversations with people who have a distaste in their mouths from having those conversations forced on them.  I’ve even been the guy on the receiving end of those conversations, and they’re never fun.  Who wants a stranger to approach them uninvited, only to insist that you’re a sinner and a terrible person, and that if you hear/believe/repent/confess/be baptized you will be saved?  Heck, that’s hard enough to do if you have an actual relationship with the person, but to a complete stranger it’s pretty ludicrous.

The main problem with this model (and variants of this model) is it divides the world into those you consider “saved” and those that are “lost”.  The goal is then to somehow get the “lost” group into the “saved” group.  In order to do this, churches throughout the years have developed all kinds of formulas and methods on how to “reach the lost”.  My issue with this is that it tends to produce a mindset that views the “lost” as a project to be won.  When people start thinking this way, they tend to be so devoted to “saving” the “lost” person that they often forget to love them.  They miss the matters of the heart, the needs of the individual, they often fail to see that instead of forced theology, the “lost” person might just really need a FRIEND.  After all, the greatest commandments (according to Jesus – Matthew 22:34-40) were to ‘Love God’ and ‘Love others’ (my paraphrase), NOT ‘go force your beliefs on people so that they might be saved’.

Now, I’m not condemning all those that believe in this model, have handed out tracts, etc.  I don’t think anyone who decides to engage in outreach of any kind goes into it thinking that people are “projects”.  I’m sure that God, despite some not-so-friendly evangelistic models, still changed hearts through those efforts.  I owe much of who I am today to these very people who were extremely passionate about evangelism, and I have the utmost respect for their dedication and love for God.  But…

I believe there is a better way.  to be continued…

The idea of the “Kingdom of God” isn’t new, but it probably isn’t talked about as much as it should be.  A quick search reveals that the phrase “Kingdom of God” is used 68 times in the bible; 54 of those in the Gospels, and 44 (if I counted correctly) of those are quotes by Jesus.  With 31 of the 54 references in the book of Luke alone, you could make a pretty good case that Jesus thought the Kingdom of God was important.  “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (Luke 4:43) “After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.” (Luke 8:1) “and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:2) “He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” (Luke 9:11)

Many times we, as Christians, get so fixated on the crucifixion that we forget that His death and resurrection is only the beginning of our journey.  Jesus died so that we may have LIFE (John 10:10); we become NEW CREATIONS (Galations 6:15), children, if you will, of the faith.  How many parents have children and then never educate them?  Never teach them their alphabet, how to walk, how to act around other children?  How many people tell their children “now that you’re born, you should spend your entire life living at home and thanking me for birthing you?”  NO ONE!  That would be absurd, right?  When we spend our (spiritual) lives huddled at the foot of the cross, living in shame and guilt from our sin and constantly begging for forgiveness, that’s exactly what we’re doing.  God doesn’t want us to just “get saved”; Yes, He wants us to kneel at the cross, confess our sins, repent, and celebrate the resurrection, but then He wants us to rise from the cross and start our own journeys, growing and maturing in the faith, bringing the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel to ALL people of ALL nations. (Matthew 28:16, Mark 16:15)

Or in other words, proclaim the Kingdom of God wherever you go, just as Jesus, Paul, and Muhammad did.

Wait.  Muhammad talked about the Kingdom?  Ok, maybe he wasn’t preaching the Gospel in the same way as Jesus and Paul, but he did write this:  ”And Allah’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Allah has power over all things.” (Surah 3:189, Shakir translation) “And Allah’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and to Allah is the eventual coming.” (Surah 24:42, Shakir) “And blessed is He Whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, and with Him is the knowledge of the hour, and to Him shall you be brought back.” (Surah 43:85, Shakir)  The Kingdom of God is a familiar concept to people of the Islam faith.  With the concepts from part 1 in mind, if we are truly looking for common ground, talking about the Kingdom of God is a great start.

Next up: “The Straight Path: Entering into the Kingdom”

So most of you probably know I just returned from an 8 day trip to Israel/Palestine.  I feel the need to write about it, but I’m not really sure how to record everything in my head on “paper”.  Probably the most life changing week of my short 30 years, it brought me through a journey that started with an excited ignorance, moving through periods of enlightenment, bewilderment, sadness, anger, joy, brokenness, and finally, restoration and a sense of purpose.

My journey started with a conference I had to work (and wanted to attend) that was centered around taking a fresh look at the Islam faith and the Muslim culture.  The people who presented spoke of The Kingdom of God, and how to engage people with a “Kingdom” mindset.  They spoke of the importance of finding common ground with those you meet, instead of focusing on the issues you disagree on.  How many friends have you made lately by starting a conversation with “everything you think you believe in is wrong; let me tell you why I’m right”?  It sounds absurd, but that’s typically what we western “Christians” do when we don’t take the time to learn about and respect the culture of the people we’re engaging with.  Paul (the apostle) knew the importance and value of finding common ground: “…I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22)

Unknown to many, the Qur’an (Koran) isn’t a how-to manual on how to build bombs and teach young men how to become radical terrorists.  If one would take the time to actually READ it, he/she would realize that there are a striking number of similarities to the Bible, with many of the same stories and people existing in both books.  The God of the Islam faith is the same God of the Bible.  (Allah is the Arabic name for God)  The stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jonah, John the Baptist, and JESUS are all present in varying degrees of detail.  Most importantly, it talks about Jesus as the Messiah: “[And mention] when the angels said, “O Mary, indeed Allah gives you good tidings of a word from Him, whose name will be the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary – distinguished in this world and the Hereafter and among those brought near [to Allah ].” (Surah 3:45).

Sound familiar?  ”The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:30-33)

The point here is not to build a case for the Qur’an as a holy book or as inspired scripture.  Does it have passages I disagree with?  Sure.  But there is an immense amount of material that can be used to engage those of the Islam faith who use it as their guide to connecting with God.  Often, many stories the Qur’an only tells in part can be fleshed out by using the Bible, leading to more in-depth conversations about the Kingdom of God.  Dwell on what you have in common instead of fighting over the issues you disagree on.  By doing this and respecting the culture of those whom you are engaging, you will show them honor.  By honoring them, you open up the doors for rich, honest, straight-to-the-heart discussion, and that is where Jesus wants you to be.

In part 2 I’ll discuss the intentionality of using “Kingdom” language, instead of the more traditional “Christian” terminology.

Well, I think it’s about time I restart this feeble attempt at blogging. 

Many of you are aware that I have been the recording/mixing engineer for our church worship band’s debut album, “Give Me A New Song”, which is finally done and somewhere in the process of being sent to the publishers.  This project officially started early last December, with Paul and I laying down some scratch tracks for each of the songs so we would have some reference to record to.  We originally thought we could get all the tracks recorded in 2-3 months, but with the difficulty of aligning volunteer schedules and summer vacations, working around special events, and sometimes just life in general getting in the way, it drastically elongated our timeline.  About 3-4 weeks ago, we set a deadline for when we wanted to release the CD, and decided to book a date with the mastering studio, knowing how long it was going to take to get the finished product in hand.  With the pressure on, we made a final push to finish all recording and accomplished that goal about 2.5 weeks ago.  That left a week for mixing, a day or two for critiquing the mix, then off to the mastering studio last Tuesday.  13 songs to mix in a week.  That’s pretty much insane.  Paul and I pretty much abandoned our lives as we knew them that week, and worked 16-18 hour days from Monday through Friday, and an 8hr day on Saturday, which we were thankful for because we actually slept Saturday night and were somewhat refreshed for Sunday morning worship.  We critiqued our mixes, made all tweaks on Monday throughout the day and were on the last song when my computer crashed (about 11:45pm).  Long story short, I lost an entire mix for the song that originally took the longest to mix the first time around.  My backup file was corrupted as well, but I happened to have an earlier file that I could work from, but had to redo the whole mix.  We remixed the song that night (or morning, as it was) in 5 hours, (which was better than the 8 that it took in the first place) got about 2.5-3 hours of sleep, then went to the mastering studio, where we spent almost 11 hours working with Charlie, a Grammy winning engineer, who works here.

Needless to say, I haven’t really felt like coming home to a computer and writing lately!  Yes, the work for this album was exhausting, and at times frustrating, but I feel very strongly that God has anointed and blessed this recording, and we’re already starting to see just a glimpse of what I think God has allowed us to capture on “tape”.  It’s not about the fame or glory of having recorded and produced a quality album, it’s not about the small amount of money the worship department will make (and it will be small, lol), it’s all about giving our members something they can take home with them to help them worship and connect with God on a more regular basis than once a week.  We have prayed that this album would be a tool to reach into the souls of those who hear it and that in some way it would bless their lives and bring them closer into a relationship with their Creator.  We have prayed that CD’s would be given to people who don’t know Jesus, and that the messages of these songs would start the journey that so many of us are already on.  We have prayed that God would inhabit our praise as we recorded it, and that somehow it would be preserved in the recording only to be unleashed time and time again in the cars, homes, workplaces and Ipods of His people.  We have prayed, and although it isn’t the most amazing recording technically or musically, I believe that God is already answering those prayers, even though the album hasn’t “officially” been released. 

I have more to say about all this, including some sound nerd stuff about how we recorded it and what gear we used, which will make a lot of professionals laugh and cringe at the same time, but it also goes to prove that God had a hand in this because we shouldn’t have been able to come anywhere near the quality that I think we reached considering the level of gear we had available, and the fact that Paul nor I had ever done anything like this.  We give all credit and glory to Him.  I’ll see if I can’t get some samples up here soon, provided my boss allows, which I think she will. 

A quote from a friend of mine in a recent email regarding this project: “This is the Divine Gift of music: it goes directly to the soul; it does not wait for permission.”  I believe this with all my heart.  Many times music can allow us to express emotions and feelings that can’t often be captured with words, to engage in a form of worship that not only captivates the mind, but envelopes the soul.  I believe that is what God has intended all along with this project, as well as many of the other worship albums being recorded and released across the world.  Find some of this music, whether it be our CD or someone else’s.  Find it, listen to it, sing with it, worship to it, let it lead you unto the throne of God in such a way to where your soul yearns for Him.  It is in that place where God will heal your brokenness, cure your loneliness, comfort your sadness, and dance with you in your joy.  Just let go and see what God will do in your life.  Prepare to be amazed!

This will probably be a long post, but bear with me, I think these thoughts are extremely important to those with a passion to know God. In light of my previous post, I have tried several times to sit down and start the discussions on my forum about all the things Kenneth and I are learning, but I can’t ever seem to quantify it in a simple post without going into an exhaustive history of the events leading up to whatever Bible passage I want to talk about. It just so happens that Kenneth is teaching his small group tonight and wanted to impress upon them the importance of spending quality time in the Word and studying it in context, which has forced him to summarize a lot of our study down to one lesson. The following is based on his notes for his lesson, with edits, comments, and references inserted by me.

Intro: God’s Consistency

God is consistent and does not change. Malachi 3:6-7 (“I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you”, says the Lord Almighty) lets us know that he does not change in respect to his relationship with us in that he wants the same from us at all times. He wants our devotion and he will accept us if we turn to him in repentance and try to follow his ways. He is not out to trick those who earnestly seek him.

The idea behind this line of thinking is to take advantage of God’s consistency by familiarizing ourselves with how he works. Take the time to compare and contrast how God worked in situations in the past to find out what things are wrong and what things are right in the present.

The stories of how God worked before Christ came can reveal much to us about the nature of God and what he wants on a practical level. The main question we want to answer is “What are the keys to having God’s blessing?”

Flesh it out: Building Context

Building context cannot be easily taught (if at all) in a lesson or a series of lessons. It can only be attained by dedication to the semi-exhaustive study of God’s word on a personal level. Anyone truly dedicated to their faith must answer this question: “How much will I give to know God’s word?”

Due to generations of separation from the Jewish respect for the word of God, we (as Gentiles and Westerners) have lost the in-depth study that lends itself to the memorization of the word in a contextual setting. Therefore, it is necessary for those of us that do not have the bible memorized to use the tools we have available, such as an exhaustive concordance to help us tie up loose ends as we study.

3 Keys to Building Context:

1. Comparative stories: (Reference: 1 Samuel 13:8-14, 2 Samuel 6:12 through all Ch 7))

Question: Both David and Saul offered sacrifices before God. Neither of them was authorized to do so by the Levitical covenant. Why did Saul get rebuked and David did not?

The answer to this question takes more time then this entire lesson allows. The point to be made is the answer is found in studying the interaction of the two parties with their God while examining the rules and context of each sacrifice.

2. Locations/Places: (Reference: 2 Kings 8:1-6, Joshua 19:17-23, 1 Kings 12)

Question: What king did the Shunammite woman make her request to? This matters later in study when looking at the influence of Elisha and context surrounding his influence between the kings of 2 Kings.

In looking up the land of Shunem, it is found to be in the allotment for the tribe of Issachar which rebelled against Rehoboam with Israel after Solomon’s death. Therefore, it can be deduced that She is speaking to the king of Israel and not the King of Judah.

3. Names: (Reference: 1 Kings 19:16-18, 2 Kings Ch 9-10, Hosea 1:4-5)

Question: Jehu played a prominent role in fulfilling the word of God. He also was anointed king over Israel by Elisha’s servant. What did he do wrong that caused God to punish him?

Answer: After he was anointed king over Israel, Jehu went through and methodically executed anyone who had to do with either Ahab’s family (deceased at this point) or Ahaziah’s family. The question deepens when we find that both Ahab and Ahaziah had been prophesied to by God that their entire family would be wiped out for their sin. Upon further study of the name Ahaziah, we find that there are two Ahaziahs that are close in proximity to one another. The earlier one was the son of Ahab and the king of Israel, but the one Jehu completely destroyed the seemingly innocent family of was the son of Jehoram, the King of Judah. This leads me to believe that the massacre at Jezreel that is referred to in Hosea was of those who God had not prophesied against. (the prophecy was against Ahab’s family, not Jehoram’s) Seeing this, Jehu was obviously executing for his own political purposes and not necessarily for the purposes of God.

Question: Why does the bible tell us that Ahaziah king of Judah was Omri’s great-grandson?

Answer: Omri “did evil in the eyes of the LORD.” Omri was the king of Israel during a period away from God. Israel is historically known (worse than Judah) to turn their backs on God and not walk in his ways. This announcement of genealogy is to give background on what kind of person Ahaziah is and to let the reader know why he is prone to not follow God.

Summary

I can tell you details and all day long. To that extent, I can teach you these facts, but understanding more about how God works leads to understanding the motives and reasoning behind why God does what He does. Knowing God is not about digesting facts, but about spending enough time watching how God works to understand some of the “Why’s” on what he does. The reason that elders are to be older men is merely because they should have had a relationship with God (theoretically) longer and have witnessed him work enough to be familiar with how he works. This relationship is what enables them to recognize the handiwork of God, and provides the insight to lead the flock that God has placed them over.

In order to be better servants of God, it is imperative that we invest as much time as possible in his word and in prayer. If we are going to be the leaders of tomorrow, we need the insight of how God works in order to lessen the mistakes we make.

The following is the explanation of what I hope will become an excellent discussion board for anyone who is seeking to dig deeper into the Word of God. Ken and I are planning on posting our discussions and fleshing out our questions and what we are learning as we study through the text. These discussions will be posted here. I hope these thoughts will cause you to give some thought to how you approach the Bible and will inspire you to deepen your relationship with God.

In order to understand the questions and discussions contained here, you must know a few things that brought us to this point in our study. Kenneth Starr (longtime friend) and I have recently embarked on a “new” way to study the Word Of God. A couple years ago, I was handed a set of talks given at the Focus On The Family Institute in Colorado by Ray Vander Laan. Ray is a long time pupil of the Word and spent a significant portion of his life in Israel learning everything he could about the Jewish lifestyle, culture, and language (Hebrew, Greek, etc?). When he returned to the United States, he brought back with him a fire and a passion to teach and share his insights and the lessons God taught him while he was over in the Middle East.

In the talks I was given, Ray lays the foundation of how Ken and I approach the Text. First, you must understand the difference in the thought process between “Westerners” (the USA) and “Easterners” (The middle East, much of Asia and Africa). In general, Western thought is very logic based. They want facts, they possess a need to UNDERSTAND the things around them. If a Westerner fails to understand something, there is a good chance they will refuse to believe it, and will question it until it makes sense. Easterners, on the other hand, base their understanding on their experiences. Something doesn’t have to make logical sense for them to believe it, it just has to fit their experience. For example, an Easterner might believe that a car has an engine even though he’s never looked under the hood based on his experience of driving the car, where a Westerner would need to physically see the engine to truly believe it’s there. As silly as that sounds, the implications of this idea are far reaching. A Jew doesn’t have to understand God to believe in Him, where many Westerners today reject God based on the fact that He doesn’t make “sense” to them. Moses encountered God in a burning bush that didn’t burn up (Exodus 3). I don’t think he came down from the mountain trying to figure out how the bush was on fire but not burning up, he came down knowing that he had an encounter with Almighty God and although not everything made logical sense, He trusted God and proceeded to do what was asked of him.

Second, Ray points out that Westerners are very abstract thinkers, while Easterners are very concrete thinkers. For example, ask a Westerner who or what they think God is, and they will likely answer with words like “God is love”, “Joy”, “Almighty”, “Holy”, etc. It will be very hard to see anything if you close your eyes and try to picture those answers, but ask an Easterner the same question, and they will answer with “God is my Rock”, “my shield”, “my fortress”, “my shepherd”, “my living water”, etc. Those things are concrete. You can see them, they’re “pictures”.

Third, Ray points out the absolute necessity of our Jewish roots as Christians. We, as Americans (Gentiles), are essentially adopted Jews and cannot exist without our roots. Without our Jewish heritage we wouldn’t have Jesus, as the Bible says (using the picture of an Olive tree) He was a “shoot” from the “stump” of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), and that we (Gentiles) are branches from wild “fruitless” olive trees that have been grafted in “among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root…” (Romans 11:11-24) Verse 18 of that same chapter says this: “You do not support the root, but the root supports you.” Our root that gives us the “nourishing sap” is not Jesus, but the “stump of Jesse”, or our Jewish heritage. Don’t hear me wrong, Jesus is the source of our salvation and our savior from sin, but Jesus was, as we are, a branch from the stump, not the stump itself. Sadly, Westerners and Western translations have done everything they can to strip the text of it’s Jewish “roots” and make it, for lack of a better word, “Western”.

With these three points in mind, Kenneth and I have begun to reexamine the text and experience for ourselves the power of God’s word when it is put in the context of which, and to whom it was written. In addition to just reading the text, we study with an exhaustive concordance, which is nothing more than an alphabetical listing of every word in the bible and where it is used. When we come to a new name, we look it up in the concordance and see if and where else that person is mentioned. We then read that passage and the surrounding context to try to get a picture of who that person was and how they fit in (what tribe were they from, who are they related to, etc). Same procedure for places, strange objects that we might not be familiar with (ex. a Goad), tribes, laws, and anything else that might be mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. Yes, it takes a lot longer to get through a passage of scripture, but as you begin to put the whole picture together and see the Bible as one continuous interwoven message instead of a collection of short stories, God truly begins to open your eyes to things you’ve never before seen.

Finally, but most importantly, I leave you with an exert from an email Ken sent me recently:

“…I think it is imperative that we stress the reading of the text, but more importantly stress that the text itself will not get you there. A person must first be concerned with pleasing God and coming to know Him. No formula, including the text or not will get you to God. Only His grace and following him as you strive to be in his “will” (that continual relationship with Him) can cause you to grow and do the things you should…”

There are few things in life that really get “under my skin”, but one of those things happens to be something that a large majority of people seem to do. I see it everywhere: in politics, in church, in families, at school, in the movies, sports teams, bible studies, etc. Basically any organization or gathering that involves people. Not everyone exhibits this behavior, but the longer I live and the more I look around, the more my eyes are opened to it. I am even guilty of this at times, but I’m trying to change that.

Wondering where I’m going with this? Ok, here it is. I’m tired of people not knowing who they are and what they believe. I’m tired of people “riding the fence” with issues, sliding back and forth between viewpoints depending on who they’re talking to. I’m tired of people who profess to believe one thing then turn around and act as if they believe the opposite. I’m sick of watching people commit to things and not follow through with them. I’m tired of wondering whether I’m being lied to, brown nosed, put off, ignored, or being talked down to as if I don’t know anything. I’m tired of people not willing to admit that they don’t know the answer to a problem or question. I’m sick of people that aren’t willing to admit that they were wrong.

There’s an epidemic in this country and most likely around the world that has infected the human race, and that epidemic is caused by an insecurity in oneself. As people go through life, they form their individual identities that encompasses everything they believe in. That identity is what drives people to behave the way they do. It is central to the way they think and process information, who they trust, who they talk to and spend time with, who they marry, how they do their job, and basically their whole outlook on life.

I could take this and run with it in many directions, but what bothers me most are people that claim to be followers of Christ, but don’t live as if they are followers of Christ. I’m not just talking about the people that wear a cross around their neck, aren’t a part of the body of Christ and only claim their belief in Christ when it’s convenient, I’m talking about a lot of “religious” people that are in church every time the doors are open, who attend bible studies and classes, who “DO” a lot of things, and yet don’t KNOW CHRIST, or the word of God! They talk the big talk, but when it comes down to it, they don’t know anything about what the Bible really says, they just regurgitate what they’ve heard, and believe everything that “sounds good” or “feels right”. These are people that have been “in church” their whole lives and yet still are missing the big picture.

If a person truly wants to be a follower of Jesus and finds his/her identity in Christ, there will be a hunger and thirst for anything that fosters and enriches their relationship with God and His son Jesus. One of the primary ways to develop that relationship involves personal study with the Word, not just hearing a sermon every week, or reading Christian books, or even going to a bible study. There is a general sense that the Bible is hard to read and understand and that it takes a degree in bible to really “get it”. The only ones who believe that are those who haven’t personally invested the time in the word. It’s not nearly as hard as it’s made out to be. I’ve met a lot of people who have been through “seminary” and still missed the point. I’m not saying these things are bad, or not to read other books, partake in bible studies, or pursue a degree in ministry, I’m just trying to make the point that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in the bible and the life Christ lived on this earth was/is the divine plea of a God who wants a relationship with his children. It’s about the relationship, not a bunch of facts, or a history lesson.

Those people who understand the relationship and are actively engaged with God are the ones who truly find their identity. Those people are the ones who strive to be more Christ-like in every aspect of their life. Those people are the ones that change the way they live when God convicts them of something, instead of ignoring the prodding of the Holy Spirit. They are the people who place a high importance on honesty, truth, and trust. The Spirit of God is apparent in their lives through their “fruit”. (See Galatians 5) Their “yes” is their “yes” and their “no” is their “no”. Their love for others radiates in everything they do.

My desire is that if you claim to be a believer in Christ, actively seek out your own personal relationship with God. Get in the word and let what you read and learn change the way you live. Don’t let the Bible just become a collection of stories and facts stuffed away in your brain. Take pride in your relationship, nurture it like a mother nurtures her baby, and solidify your identity as a child of God.  You don’t have to be perfect, but if you’re not willing to let it interfere with the way you live, please, please, please don’t call yourself a Christian.

Don’t ride the fence.

I lost my uncle to a car accident today. As hard as that is, I am rejoicing in the fact that he was a believer. He leaves behind a wife and two kids under the age of 10. There really are no words that can be said, only prayers to be offered. My family covets your prayers…

As I grieve, I find comfort in a song by Brad Reynolds called “There is A Friend”. You can listen to it here. Click on “music” at the top of the page and skip to the 5th song.

There is a hope
There is a promise
There is a peace beyond compare
There is a calm amid confusion
There is a friend who’s always there

Prince of Peace, Lamb of God
Take my heart and Draw me Close to where you are
With your spirit fill the corners of my soul
As I offer up my praise unto your throne

If you need hope
If you need comfort
If you want peace beyond compare
Come to the place you’ll find in Jesus
Receive his Grace, and sing this prayer

Prince of Peace, Lamb of God
Take my heart and Draw me Close to where you are
With your spirit fill the corners of my soul
As I offer up my praise unto your throne