Psalm 19:7-11
The world is always changing but the Word of God stays the same. God never had a beginning and he created time...everything he says is eternal. Here are 2 things to look at: 1) authority of God's word and 2) Power of God's word.
God's word is sweeter than honey. Back then, honey was extremely precious, only kings could afford to have it. Verse 7 says his testimony is PURE. God has authority to talk about whatever he wants and in any way he wants. His perspective on anything is a true perspective. God's testimony is eternal and unchangeable. Verse 8 talks about the precepts and commands of God, which says that God can tell you that you're wrong.
Verse 9 talks about REVERENTIAL fear of the Lord. Basically, that means when God speaks, you SHUT UP and you LISTEN. *Job 38* Reverent fear is pure. It's right. It's good. We should want a reverent fear of the Lord.
Verse 7 talks about the Law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul. Our souls are THIRSTY. Nothing is enough (Law of Diminishing Returns, anyone??) Our souls need to be quenched and the word of the Lord can quench it's thirst.
Listen to the God who NEVER moves, NEVER changes. Bring light to the eyes-- it lets you see who you are. The fear of the Lord is clean and endures forever.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Richie Sessions Part 1: JR high RYM
This week at jr high RYM, Richie Sessions led the talks at night. I'm going to blog a few highlights from my notes.
Luke 24:13-32 = the road to Emmaus
"We are around Jesus all the time, he surrounds us...so why is he not AMAZING to us?" -R. Sessions
We are in constant need. We need Jesus to reveal himself to us because he is always walking alongside us. Richie made 2 points: 1) Jesus is the hero of the Bible (vs. 24-25) and 2) Jesus is your friend at the table.
In verses 24-26, Jesus tells them they are foolish to not see the entire Bible is about Christ (start with Genesis 3:15 for example. Also Numbers 21, Deuteronomy, Isaiah 7 & 53). The whole bible itself is about Christ.
When you look at cultures around the world, especially our culture, you will find that everyone loves superheros. Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Spiderman, Green Lantern, Flash Gordon...the list goes on. Have you ever wondered WHY the world loves superhero stories?? It's because we all need a rescuer. Everyone is scared and this world is in dispair. We have sins, failures, fears, insecurities...we need to be rescued from that. The Bible tells the story of the true Hero/Rescuer. Have you ever noticed that every superhero is similar to normal humans? Clark Kent, Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne...they are all somewhat normal. Jesus lived here, died here, rose from the dead here. He became man. The scriptures are Christ revealing himself and they are true because Christ DEFEATED death.
Jesus conquered death. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven but the place he wants to be is HERE. With us. With filthy, dirty, sinners. No one is more significant that Jesus and he wants to be with us and we can find him when we read the Word of God. The most important thing Jesus did was bring us home; he is a FRIEND to sinners.
Luke 24:13-32 = the road to Emmaus
"We are around Jesus all the time, he surrounds us...so why is he not AMAZING to us?" -R. Sessions
We are in constant need. We need Jesus to reveal himself to us because he is always walking alongside us. Richie made 2 points: 1) Jesus is the hero of the Bible (vs. 24-25) and 2) Jesus is your friend at the table.
In verses 24-26, Jesus tells them they are foolish to not see the entire Bible is about Christ (start with Genesis 3:15 for example. Also Numbers 21, Deuteronomy, Isaiah 7 & 53). The whole bible itself is about Christ.
When you look at cultures around the world, especially our culture, you will find that everyone loves superheros. Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Spiderman, Green Lantern, Flash Gordon...the list goes on. Have you ever wondered WHY the world loves superhero stories?? It's because we all need a rescuer. Everyone is scared and this world is in dispair. We have sins, failures, fears, insecurities...we need to be rescued from that. The Bible tells the story of the true Hero/Rescuer. Have you ever noticed that every superhero is similar to normal humans? Clark Kent, Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne...they are all somewhat normal. Jesus lived here, died here, rose from the dead here. He became man. The scriptures are Christ revealing himself and they are true because Christ DEFEATED death.
Jesus conquered death. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven but the place he wants to be is HERE. With us. With filthy, dirty, sinners. No one is more significant that Jesus and he wants to be with us and we can find him when we read the Word of God. The most important thing Jesus did was bring us home; he is a FRIEND to sinners.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Lunar Eclipse
Monday, May 30, 2011
Crazy Love: Obsessed
So I was reading Francis Chan's "Crazy Love" today and I got to the chapter about what it looks like to be obsessed with Christ and a few things jumped out at me.
The first was this quote: "It is just this sort of love that is crazy to the world: true love, a kind found nowhere but through Christ."
And as I read that I realized the depth of that statement. When you read in the Bible, there are countless examples of who God shows this undying, unchangeable, unmeasurable love for us. The first is by sending his Son to die.
This also makes me think of the book Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. If you have not read this book, I am in no way suggesting it. It's rather...well, mature. But it's a fictional retelling of the story of Hosea. And when I read this, not only was I reading about the passion that a man had for his harlot wife, but I was reading about the passion that God had for us. We give our hearts away to the little things of this world, constantly finding pleasure in things that will not ultimately satisfy us. And God never gives up on us, he persues us, loves us. Just like Michael pursued and loved Angel in Redeeming Love. We are, like the book of Hosea shows, harlets. We are filthy, unclean, and we are not whole. Not until we find redemption.
We are so unworthy of the love God gives us. But God takes pleasure in us. In all of us. He loves us through our imperfections and fears, and it is better than any love we could ever possibly imagine. This kind of love looks crazy to the outside world, but to someone who has experienced this love, it is beatiful. It is something to be longed for, yearned for. And to know that God, the Creator of the universe, wants all of us...that is crazy. It's an absolutely crazy love.
The second thing that jumped out at me was this quote: "A person who is obsessed thinks about Heaven frequently. Obsessed people orient their lives around eternity; they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them."
That seemed so beautiful to me. To have the kind of obsession, that kind of crazy love for God so that all you can think about is spending an eternity with him. But it not only means we are focused on our own eternity. At least, that's not the way I see it. To me, that says that we should be so obsessed and head-over-heals for our Savior that we want everyone else to experience this crazy and insane love he has for us. We should be so in love with Christ that we want to share that love with everyone around us.
Think about how beautiful life would be if that's how everyone lived. Sharing the truth about God's relentless and crazy love with everyone around them, everyone obsessing over their Creator, their Father, their Lover.
That's crazy.
The first was this quote: "It is just this sort of love that is crazy to the world: true love, a kind found nowhere but through Christ."
And as I read that I realized the depth of that statement. When you read in the Bible, there are countless examples of who God shows this undying, unchangeable, unmeasurable love for us. The first is by sending his Son to die.
This also makes me think of the book Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. If you have not read this book, I am in no way suggesting it. It's rather...well, mature. But it's a fictional retelling of the story of Hosea. And when I read this, not only was I reading about the passion that a man had for his harlot wife, but I was reading about the passion that God had for us. We give our hearts away to the little things of this world, constantly finding pleasure in things that will not ultimately satisfy us. And God never gives up on us, he persues us, loves us. Just like Michael pursued and loved Angel in Redeeming Love. We are, like the book of Hosea shows, harlets. We are filthy, unclean, and we are not whole. Not until we find redemption.
We are so unworthy of the love God gives us. But God takes pleasure in us. In all of us. He loves us through our imperfections and fears, and it is better than any love we could ever possibly imagine. This kind of love looks crazy to the outside world, but to someone who has experienced this love, it is beatiful. It is something to be longed for, yearned for. And to know that God, the Creator of the universe, wants all of us...that is crazy. It's an absolutely crazy love.
The second thing that jumped out at me was this quote: "A person who is obsessed thinks about Heaven frequently. Obsessed people orient their lives around eternity; they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them."
That seemed so beautiful to me. To have the kind of obsession, that kind of crazy love for God so that all you can think about is spending an eternity with him. But it not only means we are focused on our own eternity. At least, that's not the way I see it. To me, that says that we should be so obsessed and head-over-heals for our Savior that we want everyone else to experience this crazy and insane love he has for us. We should be so in love with Christ that we want to share that love with everyone around us.
Think about how beautiful life would be if that's how everyone lived. Sharing the truth about God's relentless and crazy love with everyone around them, everyone obsessing over their Creator, their Father, their Lover.
That's crazy.
Monday, May 2, 2011
I was flipping through my bible in church Sunday when I came across this verse. Psalm 116:15, "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." It was circled in a turqouise pen, which meant one thing: I had found and circled that verse shortly after Virginia died. I was thinking about why I would have circled it when I thought about what a saint was.
.
Dictionary.com defines saint as this:
1. any of certain persons of exceptional holiness of life
OR
2. a person of great holiness, virtue, or benevolence
I remembered that I read this verse and thought of Virginia because she lived a life of great holiness. She lived a life worth copying, and she lived a life glorifying to her Savior. I loved reading this verse and thinking of Virginia as "precious in the sight of the Lord" because it reminded me that even though here we are grieving, God is being glorified and delighted by his creation in the perfected form in which she was meant to be.
.
Dictionary.com defines saint as this:
1. any of certain persons of exceptional holiness of life
OR
2. a person of great holiness, virtue, or benevolence
I remembered that I read this verse and thought of Virginia because she lived a life of great holiness. She lived a life worth copying, and she lived a life glorifying to her Savior. I loved reading this verse and thinking of Virginia as "precious in the sight of the Lord" because it reminded me that even though here we are grieving, God is being glorified and delighted by his creation in the perfected form in which she was meant to be.
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