John Week 4

Hello Friends,

Thank you to all of you who have been reading so faithfully. As I continue to read through John many things are hitting me in deep ways. This week I was hit by John 8:54-56. Jesus says, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." Right before this the Jews accused Jesus of being demon possessed. Jesus says in verse 49 that he is not demon possessed but rather is here to bring glory to his Father. This shows such an interesting relationship in the trinity. My head is still spinning a little bit (Ok like crazy). Jesus is God, but while on earth he is distinctly man and was here to do the will of his Father. But by calling God his Father he is stating that he is in fact God in the flesh. AHHH. Despite my head wanting to explode I am hit by how much Jesus relies on his Father. I went back through John up to chapter 9 (this is almost half way through the book) and started to compile a list of all the times Jesus spoke about relying on his Father. Here is the list so far:

2:16
3:36
4:34
5:16-18
5:19-28 (really good stuff here)
5:36-38
5:43
6:9
6:29
6:37-38
6:44
6:65
7:16-18
8:16
8:19
8:42

This is a pretty good sized list. Basically he mentions his tie to his Father at least once a chapter in a very straight forward way. I have had conversations with people where they claim that Jesus never said that we are to worship him. This would make a good argument for the "Jesus was just a nice enlightened dude" argument. If you read only these verses out of context you may be able to support that. But what we all need to understand that in that day Jesus calling God his father was the same claim as saying "I Am God." With that aside, back to what I was hit with.

Jesus was completely obedient and submitted to his Father. He knew he was on the earth to do his Father's will and he was willing to do what ever it took to accomplish it. Ultimately, that led him to being tortured and murdered on a tree by the very souls he came to save. Could you imagine being that submitted and dedicated to the will of God in your life?

Thankfully none of us will ever be asked to die for the sins of the world. But I am certain that there are many things in our lives that God has or is calling us to that we are simply saying "No" to.

Why?

Why don't we listen?

Do we think that our plan is really better than the one who made the stars?

Do we think that our desires for our selves will really make us happy for eternity?

If I am honest with my self most of the time I would answer yes, I do think my plans are better. I can control them and I can make things happen for my self. I like being safe. I like knowing my next move. If I even take the time to ask God what he wants of me (rather then spouting off my usual spiritual Christmas list every night) I am really good at picking the easy things and ignoring the hard things.

Could you imagine if Jesus was picky about what he wanted to do? I bet he would have just run around on lakes while turning them into wine so everyone would think he was the cool kid on the block. But he didn't. He did a lot of hard things because he knew that is what it would take to make us healthy again. Not many people liked him, not many people thought what he was doing was of any importance. But he did what was asked of him. And he knew and trusted 100% that what his Father was asking him to do was only possible because it was his Father's will. He knew that apart from the trinity he was just a man.

Apart from our heavenly Father we are just dirty and wrecked people. We can't do anything he asks us to with out him working through us. First, he pours his salvation upon us, then he asks us to go help him pour it out upon others.

What?!

The God of the universe wants us to help him?

I want to end with this. How great do you feel when you accomplish something that at first presented it self as a challenge? I know that I feel accomplished. Like what I did mattered. God is challenging us. Apart from him his will in our lives is impossible. He has saved us by Jesus' work first. If we step up to the challenge or not we are redeemed. Nothing we do can ever earn that for us. But I know I am getting tired of saying no. In my life I am going to start asking our Father how he wants to challenge me. I believe that by his Spirit I will have the strength and courage to stand up and accomplish his will in my life. I invite you to join me in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

John Week 3

Hello World Wide Web Friends,

I am currently at a nice little coffee shop in Frisco, TX. The weather here is just plain dumb. It is cold then hot, then rainy, then sunny then cloudy with no rain the 80 degrees then 45 degrees. Really?! Oh well. That is what I get for living in Southern California for 23 years. On to much more important things. The book of John.

This week I have been looking at John 5:31-40. Up to this point John has been writing about miracle after miracle that Jesus had been performing. Around 5:16 the Jewish religious leaders call Jesus out for healing a man on the Sabbath, or the day of rest. They basically say who are you to do this on the day we are not suppose to dedicate to God. in verse 17 Jesus says he is simply doing his father's work. When Jesus calls God his father he is claiming to be equal with God, there for being God himself. When Jesus made this claim verse 18 says, "For this reason the Jews tried even harder to kill him." The religious guys are simply pissed and are out for blood.

Around verse 19 Jesus finally comes out and supports his claim that he is God. Up to this point others had testified about who he was, but Jesus finally comes out and says it. This all leads up to John 5:31-40. The part I love the most is in verse 39. Jesus is saying to the religious leaders, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you posses eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."

This is a huge slam to the religious people of the time. The people he is speaking to are some of the smartest and best trained people around. They have the first five books of the Old Testament memorized inside and out. They know exactly what not to do to make God angry and how to fix it when they do make him angry. Jesus comes to them and calls them out. He says all of your studying and clean little laws mean nothing with out me! Everything you read points to me. Everything you tell people to do is suppose to lead them to me! But you have totally missed the mark. I am here to free you, yet you continue to trap your selves in your little religious boxes. I am here to give you life, but if you want to be dead, fine, rot away. Deny me if you want too, but I am the Messiah.

Our high school group was wrestling with this Sunday night. What is Jesus saying here? How does his apply to us? We know Jesus is God and the only way to eternal life . We know and live in the grace that is freely given to us through Jesus. We know that no matter how much or how little we read the Scriptures, it does not ultimately effect our salvation. So, what can we take from this?

One idea that came up was that Jesus was calling them out for attaining knowledge for knowledges sake. So, I decided to llok up what knowledge is.

Knowledge: the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association.

With this definition in place, knowledge for knowledge's sake doesn't really add up. Knowledge is more than understanding. It is understanding through experience with familiarity. The religious leaders were not familiar with God. They understood his Word on paper. They had a tight contract with God. But had they experienced him? I would say no. In this verse Jesus comes to them, an us, and says, "Leave your nice little neat contract on the table, come experience me, come enjoy life with me."

The best analogy I can think of is a quarter back. A QB can study his plays all week before the game. He can know them inside and out, but they don't mean anything until he is in the game and applying them in the moment. That is when he will know if he had simply memorized a bunch of patterns or if he really knows them intimately.

Have we just memorized who Jesus is? Have we just made a contract with him? Or do we know him with a sense of familiarity through experiencing him? I challenge you to wrestle with this. I am. This is the whole point of me writing these blogs. I long to truly know Jesus. I have spent to many years memorizing facts about him. My soul longs to experience him. I thank him for his word. I pray that for all of us we read his story with an expectation of encountering the living God who is Jesus. May we put our contracts and note cards down and take part in life with our savior. May we eat and drink tell we are full so we may invite other to enjoy his grace.

New Music

Hello Friends,

I just heard the first mix of one of the new songs we recorded two months back. All I can say is... "Wow!" I cannot wait to share it with you all!

Blessings,

A

John: Week 2

I apologize for letting the ball drop last week. If you look at my last post you will hopefully understand why I did not get around to posting a blog. I am getting freaking married!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!! More on that to come soon.

This post is all about Jesus and his word. First, I want to give huge props to the high school group at Water's Edge. about two weeks ago I challenged them all to read scripture everyday so they can get to know Jesus more. I have to be honest, I didn't think they would do it. But much to my amazement they all exchanged numbers and picked partners to encourage each other to read. Several of them call each other each night. It is crazy. God is good. If high school students can find the time and DESIRE to read God's word for a few minutes each day I think the rest of us can. This coming weekend we will meet again to talk about how it has been effecting their life. My prayer is that I have some sweet stories to share with you all next week form it.

I have been conitueing my journey through John. I really thought I would right a blog on John 2 where Jesus gets pissed in the temple and pulls out a whip and lays down the law on the people who are selling stuff in his Father's house. It is a great scripture. Put that on a flannel graph in Sunday school class; Jesus throwing over tables with a whip in his hand. After that make sure the kids sing "Jesus Loves Me." Not that there is anything wrong with that song. That passage just made me realize that Jesus meant business. He got angry and passionate in a holy and righteous way. That is a whole different blog entry that I don't think I am ready to write yet, but it will come some day.

This week I was hit by John 3:12-14. Right before this passage a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus approached Jesus at night to clarify who Jesus was. Nicodemus was one of the few Jewish leaders that actually believed who Jesus was, God himself. They have a great dialogue where Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born again to see the kingdom of God. I love how Nicodemus responds. He says in John 3: 4, "Surely he cannot be enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Come on Nicodemus, really! This is a highly educated Jewish leader. This guy knows his religion, yet he is stumped. Jesus goes on to explain some more but he still doesn't get it. Then Jesus goes on to say, "I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

This passage made me think a lot. How many times do we go to Jesus asking him to reveal many unknowns to us? Where will the economy go, will I have a job next week, who is my soul mate, where will I go to school, why did my mom or dad die. Jesus is trying to explain him self in worldly terms to Nicodemus, maybe so he can understand better. Yet, Nicodemus is still trying to grasp who Jesus really is. And Jesus says, "Buddy, I have told you about things that you can see and tangibly experience, but you still don't get it. How in the world will you understand who I really am? Jesus then goes on to say that "the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone that who ever believes in him may have eternal life."

I think that the beginning of this challenge is answered for us in the latter passage. Jesus had to be lifted up on our behalf. He had to die to show who he is and God's love for us. The next section in scripture is John 3:16. This is probably on of the most famous passages in scripture. I thin it is ironic that Jesus first says that people will struggle with understanding who he is, then the next passage is super famous and describes who he is.

Before we can start asking Jesus to reveal the great unknowns in our lives, we need to wrestle with who Jesus really is. He is more than a teacher, he is more than a nice guy, he is more than a revolutionary The true Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of Man, the messiah, God in flesh. We don't have to necessarily fully understand how the trinity works, or how his blood saved humanity. We need to have a measure of faith that humbly cries, 'Jesus, I will trust you, even when I doubt, I believe you are who you say you are. Please reveal your self to me."

This is where his Word is so crucial. Jesus promises that through his Word he will show you who he is. I challenge you to read his story. It is so easy in our world today to go to other people and sources to try and figure out who Jesus is. Satan loves that. He will turn people to the media outlet that focuses on the "Christian" group that is condemning gay people to hell before they can get to the Bible. Next thing you know you have a false view of Jesus. You have written him off before you ever actually went to the real source of who he is. Go to the source. I challenge you to read his Word. He promises that he will not return it void.

As we continue living life I pray that Jesus gives you a desire and hunger for his story. That is my prayer for my self as well. I struggle with finding time and the desire to sit with Jesus and get to know him more. But the more I do it the more my vision is starting to shift from my self and more on him and others. God bless your week.

On a side note the new U2 record is good and so is the new Kelly Clarkson... hey stop laughing. Go to the source... it is good I promise!

She Said Yes!

On Saturday March, 14 2009 I purposed to the love of my life, Tanya. She said yes!!! Here are some pictures. I will post "the story" soon.







To those we have not called yet, I apologize:) But you know now!

John: Week 1

Hello Friends,

I just got back from camping down near Houston with a great group of men. We had great conversations, great community, and great food! What more could you ask for? I must say that even the simplest foods taste better when they are cooked over an open fire. Do you agree?

Anyways, like I said I have started my journey of getting to know Jesus better through the Gospel of John. This week I will be looking at John 1:1-15. Over the past year or two these verses have become some of my favorite. The book of John is not written as a biography of Jesus' life, rather it is written to show the divinity of Jesus, which means Jesus is God. It is written by the apostle John and his audience was new Christians and those who where searching for Truth. Each chapter in this book shows the divinity of Jesus.

The book of John starts with, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning" (John 1:1-2). This statement holds a lot of significance to it, but can be awkward to understand. After reading a bit I learned that the word "Word" holds a lot of authority and weight to it's reader at the time it was written. In Hebrew scripture "Word" means the way in which God created creation (Psalm 33:6). It is also was how God revealed him self to his people through his prophets (Hosea 1:2) and how he revealed his commands to his people (Psalm 119:11). In the Greek philosophy "Word" was the principle of reason that governed the world. In Hebrew thought, "Word" was another expression used for God. I also find it interesting that "Word" is capitalized making it a name.

John 1:14 says, "The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." So, my take on the opening is this (Mind you, I am no theologian), "In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. Jesus was with God in the beginning." Right out of the gates John is making it clear that Jesus is more than a man, he is God in the form of a man. To the Jews of the time this was blasphemy and to our culture today this is not widely accepted.

Many people today will agree and even support that Jesus was a great guy. He probably was a pretty spiritual dude and some how did some great things that where amazing. What he taught was good. Who doesn't think that poor people should be taken care of, that being nice to people is better than being mean. Social justice is something that is becoming more and more important to young people today, so Jesus' teaching can ring a chord of truth to many people today. But, many of those ideas and agreements stop when some one says, no, Jesus was much more. Jesus was and still is God. From my experiences this is a stumbling block for many people today just as it was two thousand years ago.

As I was reading this passage over and over the last few days I was trying to find some crazy deep meaning, but God showed me that the most important thing we need to first understand is that Jesus is in fact God. There are many people in this world that do amazing things such as Mother Theresa, Bono, the guy on the street that helps the old lady across the street, they are all great, but they are not worth putting my hope and trust into. They are simply humans. But Jesus was and is much more, he is God.

Something that I remember being challenged with in late high school was to use the name of Jesus more often. The word "god" is thrown around a lot in the world and is not challenged a whole lot. It has become very ambiguous and vanilla. But what about Jesus? When someone asks you about your faith, instead of saying I believe in God why don't we say I believe and trust in Jesus. It is hard. People will look at us weird like we have a third leg growing out of our head. People, including ourselves, may get uncomfortable. But Jesus is God. Jesus is the reason we are alive, Jesus is the reason we are free from our sin. Jesus paid our price in full and has made us right with the Father. Jesus is God.

As I write this hundreds of questions are storming into my head. Even if you do not agree with what I am saying I pray that it gives you something to chew on and wrestle with. Hopefully it will invite you to open up John and read it for yourself. I do not have all the answers by any means. Please share with me your thoughts. In the might name of our God, Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior.

Eternity Matters Most,

A