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!

A Father's Love

In the words of Jesus:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:7-11

Through the Eyes of God

Susan Boyle is an awesome reminder that what's on the outside may not be indicative of what's going on inside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

James 2:1-9

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

It is important to see others as God sees them, looking at the inside not the outside.

If Not Now, When?

I don’t wanna go through the motions

I don’t wanna go one more day

Without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking

What if I had given everything?

Instead of going through the motions

This is my heart's cry now and when I heard this song this morning on K-LOVE, I just knew I had to share it. I had heard this song before but it had not yet touched me like this morning.

I know it's difficult, painful, and scary to give up everything to God, but that's what he requires of us. Anyone who does not give up everything he (or she) has CANNOT be Jesus' disciple. The Master said it himself, in Luke 14:33 if you want to check. Jesus left no doubt as to what kind of person a disciple is.

So if what Jesus says is true, and it certainly is, what does that make you and me?

Let us journey together in giving our all for the One who gave his all for us. Carpe diem!

Here's the song, with a little about the season of uncertainty that Matthew West himself went through:

The Story of Your Life

Author John Eldredge in his book Epic writes:

Life, you'll notice, is a story.

Life doesn't come to us like a math problem. It comes to us the way that a story does, scene by scene. You wake up. What will happen next? You don't get to know - you have to enter in, take the journey as it comes. The sun might be shining. There might be a tornado outside. Your friends might call and invite you to go sailing. You might lose your job.

Life unfolds like a drama. Doesn't it? Each day has a beginning and an end. There are all sorts of characters, all sorts of settings. A year goes by like a chapter from a novel. Sometimes it seems like a tragedy. Sometimes like a comedy. Most of it feels like a soap opera. Whatever happens, it's a story through and through.

Although you no longer have control over what has been written in your story up until today, what has been written doesn't necessarily have to dictate what will be written.

When you stand before the Almighty, what do you hope will be read aloud in the story that was your life? What will you give up in order to make that story happen?