Chapter by chapter

Trinity and the Church

Wed, 23 May 2012 22:58:45 -0400

God wants relationship - seeks.

God cares for his people - provides.

God uses his people - purposes.

He sent Jesus to call us - sought us.

He sent Jesus to free us - provided for us.

He sent Jesus to teach us - he gave us purpose.

The Spirit plumbs our hearts and souls - He is seeking us.

The Spirit works in our lives daily that we might die to Sin - He is freeing us.

The Spirit enables us to walk in the righteousness and power of God - he is giving us purpose.

Everything works together for God’s glory

Jesus served the Father.

The Spirit sent by Jesus empowers the Church to it’s fullness - manifesting God’s glory on earth.

This kinda gets me excited.

Only for the King

"As long as we’ve got social media, let’s use it to help one another live in the power of..."

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:49:58 -0400

“As long as we’ve got social media, let’s use it to help one another live in the power of the cross, a day at a time.”

- http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-book-of-1-corinthians-in-40-tweets

daveyxvx: LISTENER IN BIRMINGHAM Summer just got loads better.

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:48:57 -0400

daveyxvx:

LISTENER IN BIRMINGHAM

Summer just got loads better.

Guest Post: Rob Mumford

Fri, 18 May 2012 17:10:04 -0400

A friend of mine asked if I could post up one his journal entries. Of course - being Rob Mumford; one of my closest brothers - I could hardly not oblige. So here’s the entry, hope it enlightens and encourages.

“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27

I’m glad of the cross; that marvellous terrible, wonderful act of love and justice, of mercy and wrath. In one moment all of history was turned on its head. As the Creator bowed his head for those he had created, when every condition was met and every debt was paid, as earth shook and curtain tore and my LORD spilled from his temple, bounding over the hills to find me.

Why do I find his love so hard to accept? He has shown me the completeness of his pursuit of my heart - why do i still shun him? Why do I push him to the very edges of my life while he made me the very purpose of his own?

I fear, as I write, that this entry will not end happily. How am I ever going to change? When my heart is so stubborn? I strive, but it feels simply like striving to a goal that is far beyond my reach. How can i end hopefully when I have allowed my love for him to grow so cold?

Only this:

“Christ in me, the hope of glory”

with love,

Rob

Reverse Time Psychology

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:21:49 -0400

I might be mistaken, but I think our perspective of time is rather skewed. Here’s why:

If you go on holiday somewhere for upto 2 weeks, you will almost - guaranteed - do more in that city than the average inhabitant. If you know you have a shorter amount of time with which to do something, you will probably do it quicker and better than if you had a longer period, or no scheduled finish time.

When we know we’ve got more time than we need, we simply won’t use the time we do have wisely. When we have an unlimited time to do something (that is, do something at will) it will probably never get done.

It’s like we all complain about not having enough time, when in reality we should complain about not having structure or schedule.

Another side of this is kingdom work. If you go to a new country for a few weeks - you feel ready and excited to get your hands on anything. You will go to orphanages and help out kids, you will go to soup kitchens and feed the homeless, you will sing songs to disabled people in hospital, you will do 3 evangelism events in a day - you know, you can always sleep when you get back home.

Whereas if you’re in a new country for any longer period, a huge number of new factors come into play and drastically alter your view; language, living, relationships, sustenance, planning, money - all become factors that for 2 weeks or 1 month wouldn’t be so.

But then again - the work that you do in 2 weeks, compared to 1 year - how does that look? The visiting orphanages and doing one-off events, compared to walking alongside someone and deepening a relationship where iron sharpens iron, I don’t think there’s really a comparison.

Is there a way to maybe merge the two together? Like, have a long-term vision with short-term plans?

I think I’ve just answered my own question…

Only for the King

Culture Deep

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:08:53 -0400

Culture goes deep - very deep.

I was reading about a conference that’s happening in America, and in the blurb says ‘learn from 18 of the most influential leaders in the church today’ - it got me thinking.

I’ve never heard of 15 of them, and I read a lot and look at random stuff online. Then started thinking - what of non-english speaking countries? If I haven’t heard of them, what’s the likelihood of someone from another country hearing of them? If we haven’t heard of them, how influential are they really? The way it says ‘…in the church today’ is a hugely limiting phrase - as if the most important pastors are from the US - one of the biggest churches in the world actually happens to be in the continent of Australasia (although I forget which country).

There was recently some controversy in the UK about a US big name (New York Times best seller just on pre-orders I think, he also is the most downloaded and quoted pastor) who had criticised the UK basically for not having a single pastor that someone could say ‘yeh, they’re preaching the word to the masses and seeing the country changed’.

Culture is something through which we see the world. This means that the problems we see, the things that we see as ‘good’, the attributes of a good leader or the christian life, the answers to those problems, the methods for doing things (or even the methodology of having no method) and the way we perceive ourselves and the world - are all culturally based.

So when we see a problem in another culture, we need to first realise that it’s a problem in our eyes and that maybe it’s not a problem in the other culture. (This is also the way we should see evangelism - that being a Christian and not being a Christian are two different cultures and you cannot form a hybrid with some of the things from one with some from the other.)

Being in Brazil has made me appreciate these differences. Something that someone does or says might frustrate me, but for the general populous of Brazil it’s fine. On the other hand I might do things and say things that can frustrate or even hurt others, which in my own culture would never have the same reaction. The problem isn’t the person, it isn’t even the culture - it’s the objectifying of my own culture as a worldview that others should adhere to.

We need to learn to accept differences and others’ opinions. This is part and parcel of treating others as greater than yourself and being united under the name of Christ.

Only for the King

"What can it profit the soul, that the body should be in good condition, free, and full of life; that..."

Mon, 07 May 2012 23:14:59 -0400

“What can it profit the soul, that the body should be in good condition, free, and full of life; that it should eat, drink, and act according to its pleasure; when even the most impious slaves of every kind of vice are prosperous in these matters ? Again, what harm can ill-health, bondage, hunger, thirst, or any other outward evil, do to the soul, when even the most pious of men, and the freest in the purity of their conscience are harassed by these things? Neither of these states of things has to do with the liberty or the slavery of the soul.”

- Luther, Martin; Letter to Pope Leo X, On the Liberty of the Christian

Jesus & Jesus-like

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:33:00 -0400

Here’s a fact that I think a lot of Christians forget, now get ready for it - it’s gonna blow your mind -

You don’t need to be Jesus, to be like Jesus.

Uh…?

In church, too many people think that in order to do something good - you have to be Jesus. You need to be amazingly great - before you do something amazingly great. If you want to preach, you need to live a spotless life. If you want to lead evangelism, you need to have lead 127 people to Christ and started 3 separate churches from your own living room. If you want to be in the worship band, you can’t be seen drunk on weekends.

Now to some degree this is true - BUT ONLY TO SOME DEGREE! There’s a big difference between someone messing up constantly, and someone slipping up.

What happens is the fear of judgment (from the church) or of being unworthy to do God’s work can paralyse people from stepping out into what God has for them. This idea that people need to be perfect can have the opposite effect - it leads people to stop trying from fear of failure.

We’re called to be like Jesus, we can’t be Jesus himself.

(Yes, I understand and know that we’re also called to be perfect because God’s perfect, but this is in a heavenly perspective of God sees us as perfect and as Jesus)

You can’t be Jesus. Jesus lived the life of God on Earth - you can never be Him.

So stop trying to be someone your not and do what God has called you to do.

An example from the Bible is good old King David. He did EVERYTHING that God commanded him to do - and gained a LOT of favour for doing it. Yet he still murdered, committed adultery, lied, cheated and made a general idiot out of himself at times. God didn’t need David to be ‘perfect’, God needed David to do what only King David could do - be King David.

We need to be liberated from our selves, our own expectations and the fear of judgment from others. If you have conviction to do something - do it. If your conviction is to lead a single’s ministry yet you’ve never been single for more than 2 months at a time and have had 8 partners in the past 2 years - if it’s God’s call - do it. If your conviction is to lead worship or take worship in a new direction yet you can barely play 3 chords on the guitar or sing - if it’s God’s call - do it. If your conviction is to lead an evangelism group yet you’ve never spoken to anyone outside of your intensely close friendship group about God - if it’s God’s call - do it.

Jesus was obedient. We (and I totally include myself in this, I’m writing this for me) need to stop looking at our selfish worries of what others think, or what qualifications I need and start looking to what God has for us, and what He wants Me to do about it.

We’re called to be Jesus-like - Christ-ian, not Christ.

God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Only for the King

"Would it not be well if the people of God always had tell-tale faces, evincing the blessings and..."

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:36:46 -0400

“Would it not be well if the people of God always had tell-tale faces, evincing the blessings and gladness of salvation so clearly that unconverted people might have to call conversion ‘becoming joyful’ instead of ‘becoming serious’?”

- Hudson Taylor, Autobiography

A note from my Diary today

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:07:45 -0400

‘Tomorrow’ can often have the connotation that it’s a progressive step away from today, but how much is that actually true? How much is tomorrow really related to ‘today’.

God’s mercies are new every day. We shouldn’t go to bed in anger and keep it with us through the night into the next day. When someone says something, or makes a deal if no one says anything there and then – it can’t be disagreed with later. If you have a harvest you could leave your post in the Israelite army to taste the first-fruits. Conscriptions into the Israelite army could leave for a year if they had just married to make the most of that time – because you just don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

Tomorrow isn’t today. Tomorrow is different.

You can’t treat it as if it’s the same.

Only for the King

Passive Reactionary

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:54:19 -0400

I thought I was proactive.

I thought I had a lot of decisions and processes nailed.

I thought I was pursuing the right things.

I thought that I was independent in my thinking.

God spoke a few things in my life.

Turns out I just play into the hands of people who I want to gain respect from.

Turns out most of my decisions are already decided by outside factors.

Turns out my emotions dictate my life way too much.

Turns out I’m actually really weak.

I need to learn how to lead myself before I can lead others.

I cannot be a passive reactionary person in the spotlight.

Only for the King

Grace

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:01:20 -0400

- blows my mind.

God uses stupid people, in awkward situations, with crap motives and horrendous thoughts, to bring himself glory.

How the heck does that work out?

God created us for His glory, even though he knows we suck.

Here’s an example: his chosen people - the Israelites - were chosen and blessed through a LIE. A LIE! Like, one of the ten commandments says Lying is a sin, and yet God used it to bless His people. God used the bad motives of Jacob’s mum to deceive Isaac, as a means of blessing his chosen people…

IT MAKES NO SENSE!

It’s not just a case of God using sins (even if it is or not - I believe in God’s sovereignty, and the idea that God didn’t know it was going to happen kinda removes his sovereignty - if it’s a choice between our Freewill or God’s Sovereignty, I’m tempted to go with keeping God’s sovereignty - more of this in an upcoming post) - it’s also a case of God then blessing those people for doing what they should have been doing in the first place.

It’s mental. It’s like being the manager of a business, telling a worker to do their job, and then when they do it the manager gives them a 100% raise in their salary, a company car with petrol card and an extra month of bonus paid holiday each year.

It’s like a cross between two parables that Jesus said. One is well known - The Prodigal Son and the other from Matthew 20 I named myself - Do Less Work, Get The Same Pay (not so popular for obvious reasons).

Even though we mess up - or do less than what God deserves, God throws a party for us. Even though we sin and fall short, God whacks blessing upon blessing on our lives (the fact you’re still breathing is one of them). Even though we think that we’re always sinning and messing up, God chooses to remove that from our name and see us as his own children. Even though we are whores and sluts who spiritually give ourselves to anything and everything, God chooses to love us unconditionally. Even though we might feel a million miles from God, nothing can seperate us from His love so much so that he conquered Death just to bring us back to Him. Even though we don’t love God with all our heart, we are His pride and joy and glory.

This is Grace.

I still don’t understand it.

Only for the King

Spiritual Clothing (II)

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:16:53 -0400

With the post before on clothing - we’re told to put on the clothes ourselves, that is, you can’t rely on God to do it for you. We need to learn to use what God has given us (will be coming back to this point later).

When Moses met God at the Burning Bush, God asked him a question:

The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”

Exodus 4:2

Moses was a shepherd. He was rounding up sheep at this time for his father in law Jethro (at least I think that’s how it runs). Moses met God in shepherd’s clothes - with the tools of a shepherd. God wanted Moses to come to him with what he had - which is what God had given him.

This staff was used to do a whole bunch of amazing things - part the Red Sea, bring water from the rock, heal the Israelites, choose priests etc. God used Moses in his shepherd’s clothes to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land.

But Jason, that’s not that clever, big deal - he was a shepherd. Ok, in which case I’ll give you an example of what happens when you change your clothes.

King David. When he was chosen to be king (loads of years before he actually BECAME king) he arrived at the parade in his shepherd clothes - because he came straight from work, whereas his brothers would’ve been dressed in ‘proper’ attire.

When he defeated Goliath, or before hand - the people tried to give him the armour of a King. It was too big, and the sword too unwieldy. So David went to the battle in exactly the same clothes he’d go to work - and exactly the same tools - a sling and some stones that he finds and puts in his shepherds pouch. What happened? He won. Yay. But we all knew that.

But what happened when David became King, and started wearing these King’s clothes?

Bathsheba.

When he should have been fighting, David took ‘King’s prerogative’ and stayed at home - well you know, he was always winning his battles, what was the harm in staying home this once? Then he slept with another guy’s wife, and still as King tried to use his powers to make it look like the baby could be of the woman’s actual husband. When this didn’t work he used his powers again to kill the husband.

All as ‘king’.

So when Nathan the prophet came to David and explained what had happened and why God was going to judge him, Nathan didn’t use kingly language - he used the language of the shepherd - sheep. This was something that David could understand. But because of his change in clothing - and his change in attitudes - he didn’t realise that the vision was actually about him. So when the penny finally dropped - he was outraged.

What happened after this? Check out my other blog post for my thoughts - http://jasonmarrett.tumblr.com/post/336532128/but-he-will-not-return-to-me - also note the part where he changes his clothes - might have some significance here.

There’s a verse in one of the Pauline letters where Paul says we need to come just as we are. So, Punk, Building Constructor, Teacher, Introvert, Peace-Maker or whatever else you feel makes you ‘you’ - is exactly how God wants you.

You don’t need to change your clothes.

Only for the King

Spiritual Clothing (I)

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:55:27 -0400

This post is actually based on a thought by my Mum - which later I found out has hugely deep-impacting implications. My Mum teaches fashion and textiles, and being a leader in the church of course did a talk entitled ‘Jesus - My Fashion Guru’.

For some sounds cringey. But trust me - despite what some church leaders and people have you think - even things that seem cringey are used for God’s glory.

So let’s start.

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:5

and

…and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:24

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Ephesians 6:11

and one more just for kicks

…and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Colossians 3:10

It would seem that we’re called to put on stuff - i.e. spiritual ‘clothes’ as it were.

Lot’s of people think that you can’t control emotions. The Bible begs to differ. We’re told to put on humility, love, kindness (another verse in Colossians says this) - which are all attitudes. Isaiah says God’s given us a garment of praise instead of despair. We have to choose what clothes - what attitudes we have.

When you’re angry - you’re choosing to be angry. When you’re sad - you’re choosing to be sad. When you’re annoyed - you’re choosing to be annoyed. Please disagree - I almost dare you. We might think that because these emotions happen so quickly and instinctively we can’t control them - I’d say it’s because we’ve become so used to being selfish in our thoughts, that negative thoughts and attitudes come a lot easier than good ones.

This is why we need to put on the clothes of humility, and love etc - because they don’t come naturally. Our hearts and minds are always against the things of God, we need to make a conscious effort to battle against the selfish desires of the flesh and wear the things of the Spirit.

Things got heavy all of a sudden… But wait, there’s a heck of a lot more.

Only for the King

Practice What You Preach (without rules)

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:24:27 -0400

The way we perceive the Christian faith affects the way that we view evangelism and our practices (state the obvious).

But here´s how it plays out in real life:

If you think that the Christian Faith is one of many faiths, all of which end up the same way - then you will have little urge to share your faith, and urge people into following Jesus - because it doesn´t matter who they follow, as long as they´re following someone (what a real celebration of independence eh?).

If you think that Christianity is a case of knowing and understanding the Bible - then the way you approach evangelism will usually include explaining biblical words like Transgression, or Sanctification, or daiokosune(?) and encouraging people to read more. And if they get to a point to take part in a discussion about unlimited limited atonement, Calvinism and Armenianism - they obviously know their stuff!

If you think that Christianity is purely about helping out at the church then evangelism will start by inviting people along to church ´gathering´ or even worse a church ´social´ with quiche, tea and cream scones, and awkward small talk. And improving your walk involves filling your time with more things at church.

Now, I know not many people in Evangelical circles think of the Christian life as such - but it is possible for thoughts such as these to enter into practice - sometimes even without realising.

For the majority of people - the Christian walk is one of relationship. You walk with someone else (Jesus), you have the ability to deepen the relationship and it´s a thing of mutuality. With this in mind with Evangelism - you start off by having a relationship with someone - an actual relationship where you do things like ´share´, ´encourage each other´ and maybe even ´tell someone when they´re doing something stupid´.

If we don´t have this relationship with those who we want to show the Love of Jesus to, they will never understand how to start off on this relationship with Him themselves.

We need to practice what we preach.

Only for the King

Directed Gratitude

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:49:45 -0400

There’s some stuff written in the Bible about building people up. So, I’d thought I’d put it into practice by writing a list of people who have genuinely changed my life. I don’t just mean that in a little way - but people who - without their love, support, words, time invested into me - I would be very different to who I am today.

It’s a list of people (non-exhaustive) not all from one place, or one time in my life - some of them I don’t even speak to anymore, maybe even want to speak to (complicated issues, maybe some pride or other things going on) - but their affect on my life has been profound and long lasting.

So here goes…

Mark Lillie

Laura Cooke

Micah Phillips

Rob Mumford

Tim Mycock

Abhi and Chloe Shivraj

Ralph Pedley

Danny Elson

Tom Cox

Dave Morgan

Alan Carter

Chris Cooke

Francis Frangipane (OK, it was one word he gave to me and my bro Adam Lyduch when we were like 8 years old at a conference, but it changed the way I viewed bible reading)

Adam Lyduch

Fin Sheridan

Levi Phillips

Anwen Gaston(ex-Gaston)

Ewan Rolfe

Pastor Steve Taylor

Andrew Evrard

Joe Hardy

Jamie McSeveny (ask Claire Collier about how I pronounced your name)

Claire Collier

Rodrigo Veiga

Marcos e Roberta Rocha

PV Pereira

Glenio ‘Geleia’

Claudia e Rafael

Junior

Josh Felstead

Tim Windsorbrown

Tom Brown

Dan White

Dan Butler

Andrew Gnanaswaren

Nathan Hartley

Nicola Manwaring

The guy that did the open air preaching in Hereford (Andy something…)

Daniel Chung

Celso Ribas

Nick Engall

Mike Hough

Jon and Emma Hodges

Ruth Hodgson (no, that part wasn’t done in alphabetical order)

Phil Greig

Owen Duncan

Daniel Holden

Daniel Holton

Phil Smith

Tim Kerys

Benjamin Marrett

Malcolm Soanes

David and Jenny Lillie

Steve and Barbara Lyduch

Bob Cooke (and the whole family really)

Dave and Marie Morris

Tim and Dri Mitchel (respect and awe has grown a lot since being in Brazil)

Tunico Rosa

Aline Jorge

Alan Oliveira and family (Enilce, Alissa, Micaela…)

Dudu Nato

Hannah Welling

Martin Pearce

Bronwyn Hattingh

Kate Barratt

Graham Noble

Nick Engall

Bruna Arantes

Ana Laura Dutra

Israel Garcia

Jose-Vitor Araujo

Laura Coffee

Hannah Brown

Ella Glass

Vicky Salter

Jess Felstead

Ali Pickup

Ali Pickup (you need to go in twice)

Davey Burch

The guys in Through Solace

James McGowan

Daniel Marrett (it’s funny you guys go after each other… one night in Cardiff and a broken face spring to mind?)

Chris James

Matt Money

Adam Heath

Amy Treagus

Nick Jackson

Sam Hearn

Catherine Mackintosh

Harad Smith

Andrew Alker

Helen Ayano

Sarah Morris

Charlotte Hobson

Tom Parson

Lucy Ainsworth

Jane Willis

Ed Fallon

Joe Hughes

Nicole Quadra

Polly Ridgewell

Hannah Lavelle

Dave and Sarah Hider

Paulo Ribeiro

Marccus Phillipe

Paula Graziela de Oliveira

Gabriela Domingues

Alexandre and Paulo Bastos (and family)

Last but by no means least - in fact the most amazing people in my life - have definitely been my parents. Being in Brazil has taught me how much I owe to them, and how much they have formed me into the person I am today.

Thanks - to everyone here.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,

Only for the King

Face Recognition

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:05:10 -0400

It’s amazing how much we can tell from looking at someone’s face and how much different face’s show us. We can tell when someone is happy, sad, melancholic, not paying attention, thinking deeply and sometimes what they’re even thinking about.

If you don’t see someone’s face, it often causes confusion as to what they are thinking, feeling, or sometimes even saying. We are scared of people in balaclavas when they hide their faces, and when someone doesn’t want to be seen they hide their face. There is a two way relationship with faces - seeing, and being seen - we can wear a mask because of the effect it will have on someone else, or we can wear a mask to hide ourselves from someone else.

Traditionally the Bride wears a veil over her face to represent a covering, and only when she is married is the veil removed. In old theatres actors would just wear different masks that would represent different characters - and would change nothing else (maybe the voice) apart from this. In GOOGLE maps just the faces are blurred so you cannot see them.

As you can see, faces are important.

The priestly blessing in Numbers 6:23-27 talks about God’s face shining on us. Many of the Psalms also use this wording - about God’s face shining on us. As above, faces have a two-way effect - seeing, and being seen. The idea of God’s face shining on you isn’t just a case of God showing himself (as Romans 1 tells us, creation is already showing God’s glory), but you SEEING God for who he is. This is a personal connection of mutual openness - You can’t be seen if someone isn’t seeing you, and you can’t see someone if they aren’t showing themselves.

No, I’m not talking simply about ‘seeing’ a person, but actually seeing INTO them. God wants our faces to reflect the radiance of his face - or in other words - that we see his glory, and allow it to be reflected into the world. This is what the Bible calls being Light.

I want to see God’s face more - but in order to do this, I need to allow my face to be seen by Him. I need to show myself. And the thing is - just like when you’re on the Dentist’s chair and they shine that light on your face whilst your strapped in - you can’t hide your ugly spots, wrinkles, scars, chicken-pox scars and the like - you have to bear all when the light is bright.

There’s a lot more to say on this subject, but I’ll leave it there for now.

I hope that this made sense to some people.

Only for the King

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

It All Comes Back To...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:45:00 -0400

Jesus.

Like, seriously. It does.

Loads of times people say that the problem is something else: lack of vision, lack of perspective, can’t control emotions, too much money, wrong priorities, bad parenting, overly caring parents, bad decisions, doing too much, fear of man issues… You know the story.

The thing is that even these have a root issue - Jesus.

Because, you see, when you get Jesus - everything else falls in to place, although not necessarily at first.

Problems with fear of man issues dissipate because your worth comes from who Jesus tells you who are. A lack of vision is fulfilled because Jesus becomes your centre of focus. Wrong priorities get re-shuffled as you realise that you love spending time with Jesus and see his blessing for doing so. Emotions become controllable as you submit them to the almighty creator.

We can spend a lot of time focusing on the problem instead of the solution. We read the bible in the hope it will make us feel that Jesus is our priority. Go to church seeking a plug for the awkward feeling we have at times. We go to debt management classes. I worry about where my thoughts are going. I get confused when I think about my emotions.

What happens when we focus then on the solution? We realise that he’s bigger than the problem - at which point the problem disappears.

All the courses, all the knowledge in the world, all the friends, all the books can only get you so far - because in the end it all comes back to Jesus.

Only for the King

Provisão e Medir

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:41:00 -0500

É dificil medir as coisas que nao são fisicas.

Quando nos ouvimos os testemunhos de outros cristões sobre quanto incrível é Deus nas situações particulares: saude fisica, financeiro, prático, nos todos maravilhamos nas obras de Deus. Nas situações assim, nos podemos ver a provisão de Deus, e isso nos faz felizes. Simples.

Essa felicidade nos faz querer histórias similares - nós queremos que Deus providencie quando está faltando algo. Nós gostariamos que ele nos ajudasse nas crises financeiras, nós estariamos gratos se ele nos ajudasse a dormir e mais além disso se ele curasse alguem que está doente.

Mas a coisa é - nada disso é inerentemente bom, ou inerentemente ruim.
Agora, alguns de vocês estão pensando ‘mas, curar sempre é bom’ ou ‘providar sempre é bom’ - porque Romanos 8 fala

que todas as coisas concorrem para o bem daqueles que amam a Deus

que é correto, e verdadeiro. Mas, de quem é o ‘bem’?

Deus quer mais que apenas nossa adoração por causa das obras físicas - Ele quer que nós o adoramos por cause de nosso relacionamento com Ele. E esse rlacionamento nao é so fisico - é emocional, dos sentidos e dos sentimentos.
Mas, como nós podemos medir isso? Como nós podemos medir as coisas emocionais, coisas que nem sempre vemos?

A resposta - não podemos.

No fisico, um carro - é um carro. Dinheiro é dinheiro. E curar é curar. Mas o significado das coisas são diferentes porque as pessoas são diferentes. Algué que tem 2 carros, ter mais um carro nao é tão bom, mas para alguém com nada, um carro tem muito mais valor.

Deus tem diferente coisas para as diferentes pessoas: minha vida nao é sua vida e nem a vida de mais alguem. O jeito que Deus falará comigo é diferente que o jeito que ele falará contigo e com outras pessoas. O jeito que Deus vai me encontrar é ainda diferente que o jeito que ele vai te encontrar, ou encontrar outras pessoas.
Por que? Porque Deus nós encontra onde nos estamos.

Então eu não posso falar que o poder de uma Mãe com a abilidade de perdoar o filho assassino dela é maior que alguém que não grita palavrão quando mais alguém a perturba.

Porque se nós começamos a medir essas coisas, o poder de Deus não parece constante , o poder Dele muda - e ele parece arbitrário, partidário e não o Deus omni-benevolente que a Biblia descreve.

Deus quer que nós temos um relacionamento mais profundo com ele, que é baseado nas coisas além do fisico. Ele providencia para nós as coisas emocionais - que tem muito mais valor que as coisas fisicas.

Só para o Rei

What you will Live

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:16:45 -0500

I was in an ice cream place last night with a friend from my small group. Today she’s going to Sao Paulo for a young leaders conference (secular, not christian), and she was complaining that she already knew what they were going to say, already knew the people there, already knew the training they were giving etc…

And whilst she was giving the list I said to her - Yes, but you don’t know how you’re going to Live there.

—

Every situation we find ourselves in is another opportunity to discover more of ourselves, of other people, and of God.

I don’t know what tomorrow has, I still don’t know what today has for me! So, instead of fighting against my situation, I can choose to live WITH, and choose to learn THROUGH the situation.

Practically every story in the Bible is a story of going through a process - refining ourselves, purifying ourselves, sanctifying ourselves - to get to a point where we’re more usable for God’s purposes, i.e. we’re where He wants Us.

Only for the King