45 Days in the Gospels: Day 3

Matthew 6-7

- Humility is a part of holiness. Jesus starts chapter 6 by talking about privacy in your relationship with God.

Not that you should hide your relationship with God and nobody knows, but that you do not serve God, pray, and fast to win men's approval.

To be honest (I hate this part of blogging... the honesty), I struggle with this. As a pastor, I want my relationship with God to be respected and seen by the teens and adults and children at our church. And at the same time, I do not want to make what God commands to be private a public thing.

I find it very difficult not to "brag" about my spiritual growth. I want to share lessons that God is teaching me without coming off as self-righteous. It is a difficult line that I tread.

Oh yeah, and humility is something I struggle with. But you all already knew that.

- The Lord's Prayer is a whole lot harder than what we quote. The paragraph continues with verses 14 and (more specifically) 15... But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

We always seem to miss this part. I know that we have already said Amen, but Jesus makes a very important statement... and we seem to forget about that one.

- Worrying is a sin. That's right... worrying and stressing is a sin. If you think about it, what are you worried about?

God is Sovereign over EVERYTHING. He is completely in control. Do you honestly think that you have any control? Do I think I have control? HECK NO!!!

Why worry? God is going to do what God is going to do. In the word's of my favorite philosopher (3-year old, Josh Jackson) God says "I do what I want."

-Don't judge me! You don't know me! You don't know my life!!! You ever heard that phrase? I have heard a few too many times.

The problem is that my judging them is making me a hypocrite. What makes me any better than anyone else? Paul thought he was the chief of sinners; He never met me though.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm a HUGE sinner. And I'm the worst kind, I'm a self-righteous sinner. I think I'm better than you. (just being honest) And that is a sin. And I apologize. Pray for me...

- Are you saved? Seriously, are you? And then again, am I?

How can anyone read Matthew 7:13-27 and not doubt their salvation? If you don't know what I am talking about take some time and meditate on what it is actually saying.

Then, examine your life. What gate are you going through? What path are you traveling? What fruit do you show? What are you building your life on?

And just because you know the right answer doesn't necessarily mean you are doing it. Take some time and search yourself.

45 Days in the Gospels: Day 2

Matthew 4-5

- Jesus knew the Scriptures. Every time that the devil came to Jesus to tempt Him, Jesus used the Bible to defeat Satan's attacks.

How many of us know the Bible well enough to quote Scripture (that makes sense in the situation)? I don't think that me quoting John 3:16 is going to help someone struggling with life. Reminding people that "all have sinned and fall short of God's glory" isn't really helpful when they are dealing with temptation.

I think too often we think of Bible memorization as children's church. Adults rarely (if ever) take time to seriously memorize Scriptures.

I know for me, even as a pastor, I don't memorize the Bible. (unless of course it is to show off my "holiness")

Each week I "memorize" 2 or 3 lessons that I teach to teens, but I don't take time to memorize Scripture. I can pretty much spout off 3 or 4 pages of text, but 3 or 4 sentences of the Bible... not so much.

- "Galilee of the Gentiles." Jesus lived in Galilee which was not a Jewish only province. I don't think that I have ever noticed that before.

- Simon, Andrew, James, and John IMMEDIATELY left everything. The disciples have always dumbfounded me. I understand that Jesus is the Messiah. He is God in flesh.

BUT... the disciples seem to fall for the world's corniest "pickup line." I will make you fishers of men. What kind of line is that?

And they seem to follow Jesus so easily. They left their homes, their jobs, their families, everything... and it seems to be such an easy decision.

Maybe the fact that I think it is weird... is actually weird. Maybe this should be the norm. Maybe I shouldn't be so attached to my "life."

- Jesus is an A-list celebrity. Imagine the life of a celebrity with paparazzi following you everywhere that you go. Now multiply that by 1000s of people everywhere you go. This is Jesus' life.

He spent 3 years of His life being hounded by masses of sick people. Pretty much everyone in the entire area of Israel heard about Jesus and wanted to meet Him and be healed by Him.

I once saw a special on a faith-healer and his "ministry." Every single stop on his tour is full of all the sick and lame people within a 300 mile radius. There are people lined up for days just to have an opportunity to get inside to possibly be healed.

Jesus couldn't eat breakfast without being hounded. He couldn't even sleep in town because people would not leave Him alone. He ended up sleeping outside of the city, so He could get some privacy.

- Jesus isn't a very good preacher. If Jesus didn't do miracles, His ministry would be almost non-existent. He never spoke to make people feel good about themselves.

In fact, Jesus always spoke contradictory to having a good life. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek? Does Jesus really think that any of us want to mourn or be meek?

So many preachers today have a ministry of teaching, but their message is I'm OK... you're OK... let's all get along and sing about Jesus. That's not Jesus' teaching. That's not John the Baptist teaching.

They said REPENT. Turn away from your evil sin. You're dying. You are headed for destruction. Turn around. REPENT.

That doesn't please my ears very much.

- I am a Christian to show God to the world. Do I really need to rant about this one? No thanks... I might get too personal.

- It's not the just the action that is the sin; it is the thought. How often in our society do we label some things as OK and some things as bad? As long you don't act on your thoughts, you are doing nothing wrong...

Pornography is the number one business in America. And how does society view porn? It's how boys become men... It's men's stress release... It's just education for the future...

Most of our society will tell you that pornography is not adultery. It is not cheating on your spouse. Oh really? I'm pretty sure you are having sex with that person in your mind.

And it is the same way with wishing someone was dead, or wanting to steal something, or thinking dirty thoughts about somebody. Thoughts are sin.

- Be honest. One of my favorite Bible verses is Matthew 5:37. It is so simple, and yet if you have ever been out in the world this verse gets abused.

- Love your enemies. Isn't it a whole lot easier to just love your friends? Can't I just love people who get along with me?

I love what Jesus says here... even the pagans and tax collectors love their friends. Even Nazis love other Nazis.

How will the world know that Christians are any different? It's not because we are nice and kind people. It's not because we say 'please' and 'thank you.' It's not because we love poor people. Unsaved people can (and do) do all of those things.

It is our love for our enemies that sets us apart. It is our love for Muslims. It is our love for gays. It is our love for Nazis. It is our love for Barack Obama (oops... stepped on some toes there). Love your enemies... Brent didn't say it, Jesus did.

45 Days in the Gospels: Day 1

Matthew 1-3

-Jesus is the descendant of Abraham and David. Jesus is a Jew. He is in the line of Judah, therefore He is in the line of the kings of Israel.

It is interesting that there are 4 women mentioned in Jesus' genealogy. Tamar (really awkward and weird story), Rahab (a prostitute and Gentile), Ruth (another Gentile), and Mary.

-Mary became with child "through the Holy Spirit." I am currently reading a book about the Holy Spirit and I don't think it has mentioned yet that the Holy Spirit has the ability to impregnate.

It makes me think... how often do we take credit for the Holy Spirit working?

- Jesus means "the LORD saves." It is the Greek name that is the same as the Hebrew name, Joshua. If we look at the lives of Joshua and Jesus, what comparisons do we see?

Joshua led people into the Promised Land... Jesus leads people into salvation. Joshua was a great warrior... Jesus wins in the end.

Once again, the Old Testament gives us a glimpse of the New Testament.

- Jesus is also called Immanuel. Did Mary and Joseph really understand what it meant that they were having a Son who is God? They weren't just having a baby who is the Messiah, but is God in human form.

Why do we only use the name Immanuel at Christmas time?

- The Magi knew that "the King of the Jews" was born. Where did they get this understanding? And how come the Jews did not know this?

- I read the story of Joseph and Mary taking Jesus to Egypt to avoid Herod's punishment. Do we just naturally think that Mary was like "okay, whatever you say?"

If I tried to tell Keyla that we had to move to Mexico and go into hiding, and our parents didn't hear from us or ever see our child, I don't think that would go over smoothly.

I think so often we read the Bible and assume that everyone has a "blind faith." They are almost robotic and just characters in a story. We tend to forget that these are real people, with real emotions, and real lives.

And sometimes, God "screws up" their plans.

- John the Baptist has an interesting life. He has a life that not many Christians would want. His ministry is to go around preaching repentance and baptizing those who listen.

Repentance is something that is almost never preached in America. Most churches don't want to preach that you are going the wrong direction... just that you are a little off course.

John the Baptist (and eventually Jesus) teaches that there are only 2 options. God and self. If you aren't living for God, you need to repent (turn around).

And if you honestly think about it, what were we made to do? Live in a perfect relationship with God forever.

John the Baptist was only telling people to do what will fulfill them the most. He is only telling them to live life like it was meant to be lived. He was trying to help.

We have made repentance into such a negative word, when it is only a reminder (a begging... an urge) to run back to God.

Day 87: Hebrews

It's interesting that as I read Hebrews, I continue to see Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy the whole time.

Day 86: 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon

Interesting stuff today. Makes me think.

Day 85:1-2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy

This has quickly become one of the worst blogs on the Internet. And today's post is not much better.

Day 80: Romans 1-9

So... my blog has been gone for a while. And today is just recording what I read.