Revelation

Whether you realize it or not, Third Day is right - we have nothing without Jesus! Here's a great song from a great band. Who woulda thought they'd be on a late-night show? Cool!



May God reveal himself powerfully and clearly to you this week!

Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law.

Power to the People!

One school of thought in church leadership is that preachers must not talk of Greek and Hebrew lest the congregation believe that Biblical interpretation is best left to the "experts."

While it is true that people who have gone to seminary or Bible college may be better equipped to understand the Bible, it is definitely NOT true that unless you go to said school you will not be able to interpret and understand the Bible at all. In fact, I have encountered people without any formal training to be extremely knowledgeable in God's Word through their own reading and personal study.

Honestly I think the problem lies in the fact that many Christians have not learned to feed themselves in the Word daily, for whatever reasons. They neither study nor read the Bible on their own. Is it any wonder that people will automatically defer to the "experts" then?

It will always be natural to question whether or not we are interpreting the passage correctly, but it should not cause you to abandon your own personal Bible reading and study. If anything it should cause you to read and study even more. Otherwise you'll always be at the mercy of someone else to interpret for you.

Don't forget that Satan knows the Bible better than you do, and he will do all he can to twist and distort God's Word in your mind to help you be at best ineffective and at worst, harmful to God's Kingdom-work. If you know your Bible well, then you will be able to counter his attacks just as Jesus did during his temptation in the wilderness.

If you are having difficulty with your Biblical interpretation, stick to the 20-20 rule. This rule means that you read 20 verses before and 20 verses after your passage. That way you will have a better grasp of the context in which the author wrote the verse or passage in question.

Reading big chunks of the Bible daily and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you through the Word will change your life more than any sermon ever will. When you learn to feed yourself in the Word daily (as opposed to being fed weekly by someone else) spiritual maturity will not be far away.

Don't take God's Word for granted. Learn to love it and you will go far in your walk with Jesus.

It Would Crush Me...

Written on the memorial plaque for Samuel Dyer in Macau is a quote of his: "If I thought anything could prevent my dying for China, the thought would crush me."

Wow.

Above Mr. Dyer's quote on the plaque is Revelation 12:11 which says: They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

Those quotes seem so different than what I am used to in America. Here seeking to preserve one's life for his or her own sake has become the norm!

Seriously, when was the last time that you felt so strongly about the Gospel that the thought of you not being able to give up your life for its sake sounded miserable? But isn't that the call of Jesus to all of his disciples?

Then he (Jesus) called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Mark 8:34-36

May you seek the things that bring you life this week, whatever it may be.

From Made to Saved

I stumbled across a video about Michael Franzese, a former mafia captain who has since been saved by God and has turned his life around for the better.

Jesus really does save, huh?

Do not sell short the power of Jesus to change a person's life!