Posts Tagged Jesus
Question on the Nature of God and Blessing or Cursing
For the last several months, our church has been holding a weekly noontime Bible study through the book of Revelation. It’s been quite enlightening, and my end-times theological cage is being rattled a little. Incidentally, the progress is being written about @ The Watchman’s Gaze if you care to follow.
But, during a recent meeting, we chased a few rabbit trails, including: Did Jesus (and by extension God) curse Israel (specifically when Jesus cursed the fig tree, or ever)? Does God curse anything? If He did before, does He still? Is God capable of cursing anything given His nature(?), or given Christ’s accomplishment on the cross(?), or are curses merely brought upon one’s self?
The discussion was obviously much more in depth than the narrowly defined questions posed above, but this is my (admittedly) slanted summary.
Thoughts? Ideas? Comments?
View from the Cross
Posted by Peter in Christianity, Jesus, Photos on March 23, 2010
One of my favorite things about the church we attend is that worship in a variety of forms is not only allowed, it is encouraged.
I was/am a part of a writer’s circle which produced a devotional, Fresh Focus, the print version of which the church gave as a Christmas gift to the members a couple of Christmases ago. And there are others.
But, one of my favorite forms of worship to observe is our prophetic art team. Each Sunday, one of the artists will paint during the worship service. The results are quite remarkable. During our monthly Nights of Worship, the team will rotate through each other’s art every 10-15 minutes and add their own take to the product – they call it “art fusion.” It really is something to watch unfold. Admittedly, the sum and substance of my art education comes entirely from Iain Pears novels and my own infrequently used pencil and sketch pad.
This Sunday’s product, coinciding with a sermon and drama series entitled “The View from the Cross” (Pilate’s Wife, Three Crosses =Three Mothers, and others to come through Easter Sunday) is shown below. The photo doesn’t do it justice, but you get the idea. There are prints of the original art works available for purchase, the proceeds go to missions teams.
Jesus: Creator, Created, Both or Other
Posted by Peter in Bible, Christianity, Genesis, God, Jesus, New Testament, Theology on January 6, 2010
We had an interesting discussion yesterday during our church’s Revelation Bible Study (we meet weekly, and it’s led by a good friend of mine who blogs about it at The Watchman’s Gaze). I didn’t at all mean to derail the discussion, and I think I only sidetracked us for a few minutes, but I want other opinions.
Revelation 3:14 provides:
To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this… (NASB)
Now, I don’t mean to call into question the divinity of Jesus, or his role as creator, but as “the Beginning of the creation of God,” was there a point in time where the manifestation of God as Jesus came into existence or did the representation of God as Jesus always exist?
Our discussion leader and our pastor (who blogs at the Monday Morning Review) were adamant (in a very friendly and cordial way-both are experienced in indulging my quirky rabbit trails) that Jesus always was. I, with very little other support around the table (except for possibly our pastor’s wife-who doesn’t blog yet), however, continue to be nagged with the metaphysical question of Jesus as “the Beginning of the creation of God” and as “…the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation…”
I certainly do not see it as heretical to think of Jesus coming into existence in some way as other reflections of God must have, His Word for example. I think we got hung up on the word “created.” And I don’t care if we use “created” or some other word to describe it. Physicists spend an awful lot of time and energy trying to figure out the moment of creation, but I want to know your thoughts about the time before that, specifically the moment of the creator.
Thoughts? Ideas? Scriptural Authority?
Not Exactly the Holiday Inn
Posted by Peter in Bible, Christianity, Jesus on December 8, 2009
My regular readers will know that I’m a fan of searching out obscure, often lost, stuff in scripture. Well, I must admit, I never thought to research the inn in Bethlehem referenced in the story of the birth of Jesus.
Now, I don’t have to. It was the subject of our pastor’s sermon Sunday morning. I guess I do if I want to figure out if he’s right, there was a little scriptural hopscotch being played to make the connections he made, but my initial reaction was, “that’s pretty cool.” And I still haven’t come up with a reason why it’s wrong, so it must be right. Right? 
It’s worth a read, but you won’t get the full flavor just from his post, The Inn in Bethlehem. If you have a few minutes, give the podcast (Sacrifice and Relationships) a listen, too.
Hebrews Bible Study Week 7
Posted by Peter in Bible, Christianity, God, Holy Spirit, Israel, Jesus, Law, New Testament, Old Testament on November 18, 2009
The goal for this week was to cover two chapters, but we only made it through chapter 8. I suppose it was a little ambitious to try and cover chapters 8 and 9, but 9 will just have to wait until next week.
In verse 1, the author is again referencing Psalm 110, a Messianic Psalm which the author has referenced repeatedly throughout the book of Hebrews. And he or she says:
Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. Hebrews 8:1-2 (NASB)
The high priest, who is also the Messiah, has taken his place in Heaven and in the true tabernacle. This is the end of the need for sacrifices. The high priest has now entered the heavenly sanctuary and is now the mediator of a better covenant, the old now being obsolete.
So that it is clear, this is not a reference to the Abrahamic land grant covenant, but to the Mosaic covenant. Until the high priest became the mediator of the new covenant, the law was written in stone. Now the laws are in the hearts and minds of the believers.
This principle actually led to the liveliest discussion of the evening in our effort to determine when and how this imprinting upon the hearts and minds takes place. Does it occur upon becoming a believer, at baptism, during the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Without reaching definite conclusions, I think the general consensus was that (1) the Holy Spirit is the mechanism, and (2) it happens when the Holy Spirit becomes activated by faith in Jesus (which we also believed was distinct from the baptism in the Holy Spirit – which could happen simultaneously, but doesn’t always, or even usually).
We again were landed with a ministry opportunity which consumed a fair amount of the time, but the tradeoff was well worth it.
More on Infant Death and the Afterlife
Posted by Peter in Bible, Children, Christianity, Genesis, God, Jesus, Law, New Testament, Old Testament, Theology on November 13, 2009
Earlier this week in What About Infants?, I directed my readers to TC’s post When Infants Die: Hell? Heaven? or Limbo?. As predicted, it generated a healthy discussion. I can’t definitively say who’s right or wrong, but I wonder if we shouldn’t be more worried about adults than the children.
Jesus said,
Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3 (NASB)
I have a strong suspicion that the children will be fine. We, on the other hand, seem to have a harder time getting it.
I think we get all worked up over sin and original sin, when our accountability begins, right and wrong, and the like. And that is the very problem.
God’s a pretty smart Dude, and when He forbade us from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it was for our own good. He knew we would spend the rest of our lives worrying about whether we did good or evil. If not because of our own shortcomings, then because the enemy would beat us over the head with it.
And as if that wasn’t enough, now we’ve got to worry about whether our kids will be held accountable. It’s too much to worry about. And God knew it.
That’s where we go wrong, in our need (or desire) to know. We were better off before the knowledge of good and evil, innocent like a child.
One of the Best Sermons on the Holy Spirit I’ve Heard
Posted by Peter in Christianity, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Theology on November 12, 2009
I just wanted to share this sermon on walking with the Holy Spirit. It is one of the best sermons on the Holy Spirit I’ve heard in a long time (and from a Baptist preacher, no less).
I think our mindset is backward. We think we (1) meet Jesus, (2) get saved, and (3) progress into the things of the Spirit, when it is the power of the Holy Spirit that can enable our walk with Jesus from the beginning if we allow it.
Disclaimer: We attended this church (Beltway Park Baptist Church) for a few years, and absolutely loved it. We attended through a satellite campus which closed, so we found a local church. Enjoy!
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Note: the conference referenced is the Global Awakening School of Healing here and here (which my wife is actually attending as I’m writing).
Two New Blogs, Both by Women Teachers Who are Mighty in Faith
Posted by Peter in Christianity on October 30, 2009
One is obviously my wife, Pastor Lolo‘s, blog WorldChangers. WorldChangers is the name of the children’s ministry which she heads up at our church. It is a way for her to communicate with parents so they can work with their little world changers at home. But, it will be a nice resource for lessons, activities, and other cool stuff you can use with your kids.
The second, Oasis of Praise, is a blog about praise, if you haven’t already figured that one out. It is written by the wife of my friend whose blog (The Watchman’s Gaze) I announced earlier in the week. It is brand spanking new, and I’m looking forward to what she has to say.
I really can’t say enough about both of these women, so I encourage you to check them out (their blogs, of course, not them-they are both taken), and encourage them as they step into the blogosphere.
I would honestly love to take credit for influencing both of these blogs, but neither were my idea, which probably means they will both be pretty darn good.
Hebrews Bible Study-Week 6
Posted by Peter in Bible, Christianity, God, Jesus, Law, New Testament, Old Testament, Theology on October 29, 2009
My intention for week 6 was to cover all of Hebrews chapter 7. But, you know what they say about intentions (actually, I have no idea what they say about intentions, but it sounded good in my head).
Suffice it to say, we didn’t make it through all of chapter 7, but the discussion was great anyway. It seems that ministry opportunity after ministry opportunity has presented itself during our Bible study (and, henceforth, I will use that term loosely). I’m just trusting that God is trusting our little group with these ministry needs, and I am so thankful for our core group who is more than capable of ministering the gospel, ragtag bunch that we are.
We did, however, cover the first 10 verses of chapter 7, which is progress from the pace we were on in chapter 6 (summary part 1, part 2 and notes). So, for that, I am also thankful.
We spent a fair amount of time recapping what we learned about Melchizedek in week 3 because it has, in real time, been over a month since we discussed it. To this Melchizedek, Abraham apportioned one tenth of the spoils (from his battle with the kidnapping kings). We discussed this as the first reference to the Mosaic law of tithing. Also, that the author of Hebrews suggests this as a tithe:
And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Hebrews 7:9-10 (NASB)
And, although we are not under the law of Moses, the spiritual principle of making the whole holy by tithing remains operable. And, while we give our tithes to men, Jesus receives them in heaven, “In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on.” Heb. 7:8. Thus the principle of the tithe predates the law of Moses and continues on through the New Covenant.
As I mentioned, the balance of our discussion time was spent ministering to the newest member of our group. It was yet another unexpected, but totally awesome week. May there be plenty more of them.
Hebrews Bible Study-Week 5
Posted by Peter in Bible, Christianity, New Testament on October 29, 2009
As I mentioned in my recap of week 4, we made it through the first six verses of chapter 6. We finally finished chapter 6. We still probably didn’t cover the second half of chapter 6 as thoroughly as I would have liked, but we did get through it.
I began by asking, if we are supposed to move beyond the “milk” referenced in chapter 5 to “solid food,” how do we do that? What are practical steps we can take to move beyond milk? The first was the most obvious, recognize that we are still partaking of milk, not just individually, but collectively as a body. There were others, most of them about maturing individually in our respective walks with Christ.
However, there was another (in retrospect, obvious) answer that my good friend Curtis (who blogs at The Watchman’s Gaze) suggested, which is to pray and ask God what the solid food is. The author of Hebrews doesn’t elaborate, he or she only laments that the audience is not ready, though they should be. I think it is safe to say that there is solid food prepared for each of us individually, for groups of us, and for the body as a whole. It also seems apparent that God is ready for us to be partakers. We seem to be the hold up.
We actually did cover the remainder of chapter 6 (and you can read other discussion points on the chapter 6 notes), but those were the highlights of our discussion.
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