tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-273919062024-03-23T11:25:16.236-07:00Contend EarnestlySeth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.comBlogger824125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-64024682289651962962011-09-06T10:38:00.000-07:002011-09-06T10:40:55.590-07:00Closed Up Shop<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_bO4jezG49U/TmZbHXvONVI/AAAAAAAABpQ/Z-FLWtTjOwc/s1600/closed-sign.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_bO4jezG49U/TmZbHXvONVI/AAAAAAAABpQ/Z-FLWtTjOwc/s400/closed-sign.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649302964772156754" /></a><br />This blog is officially closed. If you want to see a wider glimpse of who I am and what I am about...check out the new blog called, <a href="http://sethmcbee.blogspot.com/">"McBee's Musings"</a>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-68649645807121587632011-08-29T09:14:00.000-07:002011-08-29T09:28:09.431-07:00Rethinking Baptism: Part 2<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/---Wp6eq3xnE/Tlu9w4sv0VI/AAAAAAAABpI/Y8N_tRk85Xw/s1600/rp.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/---Wp6eq3xnE/Tlu9w4sv0VI/AAAAAAAABpI/Y8N_tRk85Xw/s400/rp.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646315205390487890" /></a>
<br /><b>So, Why Get Baptized? </b><div><b>
<br /></b>Let’s look to the source of Jesus’ command, found in Matthew 28:18-21
<br />
<br /></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”</span></i>
<br />
<br />This has been broken down many times before, so I am not going to labor in completely deconstructing this popular passage. It does involve this: Jesus’ power and presence; going (really “as one goes along in life”); making disciples; baptizing, teaching.
<br />I believe that when asking this question of baptism and why we are to do it, it comes directly from this passage and also from Jesus’ baptism found in the gospels.
<br />
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" ><i>After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
<br />and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
<br />Matthew 3:16-4:1</i></span>
<br />
<br />What I want to direct our attention to is those who say, “We get baptized because Jesus did it?” The question comes in “Why was Jesus baptized and how does it relate to our baptism?”
<br />This is the thrust of this paper.
<br /><span class="fullpost">
<br /></span><span class="fullpost"><b>1. We are baptized to show our new identity, as Jesus was</b>
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost">Jesus, from what we can gather from the Scriptures, was known merely as Joseph’s son, the carpenter’s son (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt%2013:55;%20Mark%206:3&version=NASB">Matt 13:55; Mark 6:3</a>), few (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202:25-34&version=NASB">Luke 2:25-34</a>) knew him to be the coming Messiah, or God’s son. When Jesus came out of the water, God spoke this:
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”</span></i>
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost">This both speaks to a new, revealed identity (I am not saying Jesus wasn’t God’s Son before this, but this is where he is identified as such) and also to the fulfillment of Scripture that spoke of the coming one, the coming Messiah.
<br />
<br /><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:
<br />He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
<br />Today I have begotten You.
<br />Psalm 2:7
<br />
<br />“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
<br />My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
<br />I have put My Spirit upon Him;
<br />He will bring forth justice to the nations.
<br />Isaiah 42:1</span></i>
<br />
<br />The same is said of us. We are now new creatures with a new identity. Instead of being a son of Adam, we become a son of God. Instead of being a servant of this world, we become a servant of the risen King. Instead of being filled with the power of our flesh being sent to fulfill the kingdom of the world, we are filled with the Spirit and become a sent one of the Kingdom of God.
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost">We see this as we are given a new name in Matthew 28. We have a new Father, we have a new King, who is the Son of God and we have the new Spirit of God with his power abiding within us. So, as we are now disciples of Jesus, we are now sons & daughters, servants and sent ones. </span>Baptism reveals this new identity. </div><div><span class="fullpost">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><b>2. We are commissioned to make disciples with this new power, as Jesus was.</b>
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost">Notice what happens in Jesus’ baptism. The Spirit of God descended upon him. We know that Jesus wasn’t “saved” at this point, nor was Jesus now officially deified, but why did the Spirit come down upon Jesus? I believe it is important to note what happened directly after this. After his baptism, the Spirit led him to the wilderness. Jesus’ public ministry started. He was now commissioned to make disciples. It was important for Jesus to start by resisting temptation (although he had been doing this in all the years leading up to this point as well), because he wasn’t making disciples of another, but of himself. So, part of his ministry was perfection for our sake so he could be our perfect high priest. After being led to the wilderness, Luke mentions this:
<br />
<br /><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.
<br />And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
<br />And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
<br />Luke 4:14-21</span></i>
<br />
<br />You could say that he let the cat out of the bag. Luke starts this passage with, “in the power of the Spirit…” For whatever reason, after Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit descended and his ministry of making disciples started.
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost">This is what I believe we’ve been missing from the reason we are to be baptized. When one repents and believes and then is baptized, something miraculous happens. It is not that they are saved, because upon belief they are sealed inwardly by the Spirit (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206;%20Eph%201:13;%204:10&version=NASB">Romans 6; Eph 1:13; 4:10</a>) but the commissioning of making disciples under your new name and under your new power is established. Notice that Matthew 28:18-21 is bookended by Jesus’ authority and him always being with us as we go.
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost">One might ask the obvious question, “But I know many who make disciples without ever being baptized, what is the consequence?” I’m not sure that we’ll ever know the consequence of not understanding this commissioning aspect of baptism. It is like asking the question, “If one believes that women shouldn’t be elders, yet the church is growing, where’s the consequence?” Sometimes these questions of disobedience aren’t so quick to reveal the consequences, but might be better understood as what would happen if the command and deeper truth was realized in that person’s life. It’s like one saying they are satisfied in looking at pictures of Hawaii, yet have never stepped foot on her beaches.
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost">What I believe about baptism is that we should do it because:
<br />- We are commanded
<br />- Jesus did it
<br />- It is a proclamation of our new identity
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost">But, I also believe there is a deep connection of the Spirit’s power, because of the authority of Christ, for us to be commissioned to make disciples of our King.
<br />
<br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost">This speaks clearly of why we see every instance of baptism of new disciples happening so quickly after they repent and believe. Those that repent and believe, those that are now followers of Jesus, given a new name, should be now baptized to receive this enormous gift given to us through baptism with water because they now have a new power and a new purpose.
<br />So, yes, we are to be baptized because Jesus was, but if we miss why Jesus was baptized, we miss out on the fullness of us following in the ways and purposes of Jesus.
<br /></span></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-61227671152680036492011-08-26T09:28:00.000-07:002011-08-26T09:53:15.446-07:00Rethinking Baptism: Part 1<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q3XkZBmRX5w/TlfNh5DDtSI/AAAAAAAABpA/Lf8_0gA2Be4/s1600/web.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 332px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q3XkZBmRX5w/TlfNh5DDtSI/AAAAAAAABpA/Lf8_0gA2Be4/s400/web.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5645206640065230114" /></a>
<br />Before I start, I should begin by letting the reader know that I have always been a believer of credo baptism, or believer’s baptism. Meaning, I believe that baptism is administered only to those who repent and profess faith in Jesus because of his sinless life, his perfect death and powerful resurrection. So, this paper will not involve the discussions that have led to divisions between the paedo (child) and credo baptism crowd. This paper is to discuss the reasons why someone should be baptized and importance of it.<div>
<br />When growing up and seeking to understand baptism I was told many things about baptism and why we administer it within the church. Some of these reasons were this:
<br />
<br /></div><div>It’s a public proclamation of one’s faith
<br />It’s a picture to show on the outside, what happened on the inside
<br />We do it because Jesus did it and he commanded it and we want to be like Jesus
<br />It’s to bring someone into the Christian community</div><div>
<br />I guess I want to question some of these and then add something I believe that has been missing from our thoughts on baptism, or at least missing from the communities that I have hung around in the past.</div><div>
<br />
<br /><b>Public Proclamation</b></div><div>
<br />Many I know of believe that all baptisms should be done in the public of some sorts. What I find interesting is that it’s not public that they desire, but it actually happens within the church walls, where very little of the unbelieving public gather. What I find to be more consistent in the Scriptures is not that it had to happen in public, but it happened immediately with the one who repented and believed. We aren’t sure how much of the “public” were at some of these places (i.e. households, eunuch by his chariot, Lydia by the river with other women), but the seemingly solid stream of evidence points more to the immediacy of baptism, not the place or those present. So, while it may be a proclamation of sorts (so are many other things we do), I’m not sure this is the fullness of the “why” in getting baptized. </div><div>
<br /><b>It’s A Picture </b></div><div><b>
<br /></b>Although this might be true, there just isn’t a great deal of evidence that points to this fact. We can try and connect some dots between baptism in water with the baptism of the Spirit shown to us in Romans 6, but the actual evidence of this being the reason for water baptism, seems to be lacking. I believe the two are connected, but as you will see below, I believe they are connected much deeper than a mere picture.</div><div>
<br /><b>We do it because Jesus did it and commanded us to</b></div><div>
<br />I don’t believe this is good enough, and as you speak to a postmodern world, they won’t believe this is good enough either. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do what God tells us to do, but as we explain baptism, we shouldn’t merely say, “Do it because God said so.” Our God is one that usually explains things to us, instead of “because I said so.” Now, I know that our parents have conditioned us to just do things because they said so, but this usually isn’t how God operates. There might be times where we do things God calls us to without knowing fully the “why” but most of the time, God operates as a Father who desires for his children to know the reason why he has a command, not merely “do what I say and deal with it.” Because of this, maybe we should ask the “why” Jesus did it and why he commanded it.</div><div>
<br /><b>It’s to bring someone into the Christian community</b></div><div>
<br />I agree to an extent with this statement, but I believe it to be much fuller than this. Meaning, if one believes that you should be baptized so you can be in a new community, this seems to lack in argument for why someone should desire this. If we are dealing with God and his ways, this has to be larger than a particular culture and a particular time we live in. The reason I say this is the mere fact that most don’t have to be baptized to be in community today and most understand within Protestant circles that baptism doesn’t save you. Because of this, if this is the reason why we get baptized, few will be persuaded. Most will show you the Christian community that they are in and have never been baptized. Although they might be kept from some membership rosters, few will care and actually be glad that they aren't considered members of particular churches, because it gets them out of going to business meetings. Not only that, but the Eunuch in Acts 8 didn’t return with Philip but continued in the life and occupation that God had given him to live. So maybe this is deeper than a mere physical community.
<br /></div><div>
<br /></div><div>Next time we'll get into, "Then, why get baptized?" </div>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-1959868729900322742011-06-07T14:15:00.001-07:002011-06-07T14:18:47.826-07:00Christians Are a Bunch of SwindlersI got the chance to get coffee with one of my buddies and brothers from Soma, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/lastnamethomas">Chris Thomas</a>. Chris is a really cool dude that is trying to understand each day what it means to follow Jesus. He brought up this quote today as we were talking...it's money ball.<br /><br /><i>“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand it, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. ‘My God,’ you will say, ‘if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world’? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”<br /></i><br /><b>- Søren Kierkegaard</b><br /> Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard<br /> Charles Moore, ed.<br /><br />Quoted in Keith Giles’ book<a href="http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_70/7841000/7841484/4/print/7841484.pdf"> This Is My Body: Ekklesia As God Intended</a>, p. 60Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-64553716891780216062011-05-04T14:42:00.000-07:002011-05-04T15:07:09.049-07:00Principles for Reading the Book of Proverbs<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TIylgC_s3sU/TcHN_719jkI/AAAAAAAABo0/R1toSajEidY/s1600/isbn.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602985909705084482" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TIylgC_s3sU/TcHN_719jkI/AAAAAAAABo0/R1toSajEidY/s400/isbn.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div>This is taken straight from the end of the book by Tremper Longman on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Proverbs-Tremper-Longman/dp/0877849420/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304546322&sr=8-1">"How to Read Proverbs"</a>, which I highly recommend.<br /><br />1. Keep in mind the structure of the whole book of Proverbs as you read any part of it. In particular, make sure you read any passage of the book in the light of the imagery concerning the path and the two women that is developed in Proverbs 1-9 and reaches its climax in Proverbs 8-9.<br /><br />2. Reflect on the parallelism of a proverb by asking how the second colon sharpens or intensifies the thought of the first.<br /><br />3. Identify the imagery in the passage, then unpack it by asking how the two things compared are similar and how they are different.<br /><br />4. Think about the source of the wisdom of a passage. Does it come from observation, experience, tradition, revelation or any combination of these sources?<br /><br />5. Is the passage an observation, a bit of advice, a warning, a reflection, or some other kind of teaching?<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />6. Since proverbs are not true in any and every circumstance, ask under what circumstances the proverb may or may not apply to a situation. How can you tell?<br /><br />7. Does the proverb mention or imply a reward or punishment that will result from obedience or disobedience?<br /><br />8. If the passage is addressed to a young man, ask how it applies to you.<br /><br />9. Using a commentary, study the Near Eastern background of the passage you are considering.<br /><br />10. When doing a topical study, read through the book of Proverbs and pinpoint the relevant verses. Group them together, then study each group.<br /><br />11. Try to identify biblical stories or characters who may illustrate the truthfulness of the proverb(s) you are studying.<br /><br />12. Does the New Testament address the topic or teaching of the passage you are studying?<br /><br />13. Think of Christ as the fulfillment of wisdom and how he might illustrate the wisdom of the passage you are reading.<br /><br /></span></div>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-63776879583753186522011-05-03T09:55:00.001-07:002011-05-03T10:53:52.182-07:00Proverbs: The Way of Wisdom<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HxIhhKc8CTQ/TcA1_7SzEjI/AAAAAAAABos/UziWiPErUP0/s1600/web.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 174px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HxIhhKc8CTQ/TcA1_7SzEjI/AAAAAAAABos/UziWiPErUP0/s400/web.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602537308813464114" /></a><br />We are starting a preaching series through the Proverbs and one of our pastors gave this to us as a topical index for us preachers. It is nice and concise and one that will aid people in after the understanding of the depth and cornerstone of wisdom, namely Christ. I thought it would be helpful to put it here: (If you'd like to hear our sermons on wisdom for the next 10 weeks you can check it out here: <a href="http://tacoma.somacommunities.org/learners/renton-audio/">Renton</a>; <a href="http://tacoma.somacommunities.org/learners/all-soma-audio/">Tacoma</a>; <a href="http://www.alathia.org/sermons/">Issaquah</a>)<br /><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >The Human Heart - Advising the humble versus the fool</span></b>. <div><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=PROVERBS%203:11-12;%209:7-9;%2012:1,%2015;%2013:1,%2010,%2013-14,%2018;%2015:5,%2010,%2012,%2031,%2032,%2033;%2017:10;%2018:2,%2015;%2019:25,%2027;%2021:11;%2023:9;%2024:5-6;%2025:12;%2026:11;%2027:5-6,%2022;%2028:13,%2023;%2029:1,9.&version=NASB">3:11-12; 9:7-9; 12:1, 15; 13:1, 10, 13-14, 18; 15:5, 10, 12, 31, 32, 33; 17:10; 18:2, 15; 19:25, 27; 21:11; 23:9; 24:5-6; 25:12; 26:11; 27:5-6</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=PROVERBS%2027:22;28:13,%2023;29:1,9&version=NASB">22; 28:13, 23; 29:1,9</a>.<div><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Negative influences pulling us away from wisdom - The compound effect of the fool </span></b></div><div><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=PROVERBS%2011:11;%2014:34;%2016:29;%2020:7;%2025:4-5;%2028:10,%2012,%2028;%2029:2,%208,16&version=NASB">11:11; 14:34; 16:29; 20:7; 25:4-5; 28:10, 12, 28; 29:2, 8,16</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Alcohol (and other drugs) – The danger of heavy drinking</span></b></div><div><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%2020:1,%2021:17;%2023:19-21,%2029-35;%2031:1-9&version=NASB">20:1, 21:17; 23:19-21, 29-35; 31:1-9</a></div><div><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Emotional Expression (both positive and negative - anger) - Controlling destructive emotions</span></b></div><div><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%2015:18;%2016:14;%2019:11,%2012,%2019;%2021:19;%2025:23;%2027:3-4;%2029:8,%2022&version=NASB">15:18; 16:14; 19:11, 12, 19; 21:19; 25:23; 27:3-4; 29:8, 22</a></div><div><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Words (Rumors, Gossip, Slander, Lies) - The destructive power of words</span></b></div><div><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%206:16-19;%209:7;%2010:14,%2018;%2011:12,%2013;%2012:17-19,%2022;%2013:3,%2016;%2014:5,%2025;%2015:28;%2016:28;%2017:4,%2027,%2028;%2018:3,%208;%2019:1,%205,%209,%2028;%2020:18-19,%2025;%2021:6,%2028;%2024:28-29;%2025:8-10,%2018,%2023;%2026:4,%2020,%2022;%2030:7-10&version=NASB">6:16-19; 9:7; 10:14, 18; 11:12, 13; 12:17-19, 22; 13:3, 16; 14:5, 25; 15:28; 16:28; 17:4, 27, 28; 18:3, 8; 19:1, 5, 9, 28; 20:18-19, 25</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%2021:6,%2028;%2024:28-29;%2025:8-10,%2018,%2023;%2026:4,%2020,%2022;%2030:7-10&version=NASB">21:6, 28; 24:28-29; 25:8-10, 18, 23; 26:4, 20, 22; 30:7-10</a>.</div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Business ethics - Dealing with honesty and generosity</span></b> </span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%206:1-5;%2010:2;%2011:1,%2015,%2018,%2024-26;%2013:11;%2014:23;%2015:27;%2016:8,%2011,%2013,%2026;%2017:18;%2020:10,%2014,%2016,%2023;%2021:5;%2022:7,%2026-27;%2026:10;%2027:13,%2018;%2028:8,%2016&version=NASB">6:1-5; 10:2; 11:1, 15, 18, 24-26; 13:11; 14:23; 15:27; 16:8, 11, 13, 26; 17:18; 20:10, 14, 16, 23; 21:5; 22:7, 26-27; 26:10; 27:13, 18; 28:8, 16</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Family Relationships (including the role of discipline in raising children) - The locus for instruction</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%206:16-19;%2010:1;%2015:20;%2017:2,%206,%2017,%2021;%2019:13,%2018,%2026;%2020:7,%2020;%2022:6;%2023:13-14,%2022-25;%2027:8;%2028:7,%2024;%2029:3,%2015,%2017;%2030:11,%2017,%2021-23&version=NASB">6:16-19; 10:1; 15:20; 17:2, 6, 17, 21; 19:13, 18, 26; 20:7, 20; 22:6; 23:13-14, 22-25; 27:8; 28:7, 24; 29:3, 15, 17; 30:11, 17, 21-23</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Conflict (including speaking/listening) - Speaking wisely at the right time</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%206:16-19;%208:6-9,%2012-14;%2010:6,%2012,%2018-21,%2031,%2032;%2011:11-13;%2012:6,%2013,%2014,%2025;%2013:2,%205,%2016;%2014:3,%205,%2025;%2015:1,%202,%204,%207,%2018,%2023,%2028;%2016:10,%2013,%2024,%2028;%2017:4,%207,%2014,%2019,%2020,%2027,%2028;%2018:4,%206-8,%2013,%2019-21;%2019:5,%209,%2011;%2020:3,%2019;%2021:23;%2022:10-11;%2023:15-16,%2029-30;%2024:7-9m%2026;%2025:10-11m%2014,%2024;%2026:17,%2020,%2021,%2028;%2027:14;%2028:25;%2029:5,%2020,%2022;%2030:%205-6,%2010,%2014;%2031:26&version=NASB">6:16-19; 8:6-9, 12-14; 10:6, 12, 18-21, 31, 32; 11:11-13; 12:6, 13, 14, 25; 13:2, 5, 16; 14:3, 5, 25; 15:1, 2, 4, 7, 18, 23</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%2015:28;%2016:10,%2013,%2024,%2028;%2017:4,%207,%2014,%2019,%2020,%2027,%2028;%2018:4,%206-8,%2013,%2019-21;%2019:5,%209,%2011;%2020:3,%2019;%2021:23;%2022:10-11;%2023:15-16,%2029-30;%2024:7-9m%2026;%2025:10-11m%2014,%2024;%2026:17,%2020,%2021,%2028;%2027:14;%2028:25;%2029:5,%2020,%2022;%2030:%205-6,%2010,%2014;%2031:26&version=NASB">28; 16:10, 13, 24, 28; 17:4, 7, 14, 19, 20, 27, 28; 18:4, 6-8, 13, 19-21; 19:5, 9, 11; 20:3, 19; 21:23; 22:10-11; 23:15-16, 29-30</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%2024:7-9,%2026;%2025:10-11,%2014,%2024;%2026:17,%2020,%2021,%2028;%2027:14;%2028:25;%2029:5,%2020,%2022;%2030:%205-6,%2010,%2014;%2031:26&version=NASB">24:7-9, 26; 25:10-11, 14, 24; 26:17, 20, 21, 28; 27:14; 28:25; 29:5, 20, 22; 30: 5-6, 10, 14; 31:26</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Friendship/Neighbors - The value of friendships</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%203:27-31;%206:1-5;%2011:9,%2012;%2014:20;%2016:29;%2017:9,%2017,%2018;%2018:17-24;%2019:4,%206,%207;%2020:6;%2021:10;%2022:11;%2023:10-11;%2024:28-19;%2025:8,%209-10,%2017,%2018;%2026:18-19;%2027:9-10,%2014,%2017&version=NASB">3:27-31; 6:1-5; 11:9, 12; 14:20; 16:29; 17:9, 17, 18; 18:17-24; 19:4, 6, 7; 20:6; 21:10; 22:11; 23:10-11; 24:28-19; 25:8, 9-10, 17, 18; 26:18-19; 27:9-10, 14, 17</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Planning (including hard work) - Planning and working hard as a way of the wise</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%201:5;%206:6-11,%2018;%2010:4,%205,%2026;%2011:14;%2012:5,%2011,%2020,%2024,%2027;%2013:4;%2014:22,%2023;%2015:19,%2022,%2026;%2016:1-3,%209,%2033;%2018:9;%2019:15,%2021,%2024;%2020:4,%2013,%2018,%2024;%2021:5,%2025;%2022:13,%2029;%2024:6,%2027,%2030-34;%2026:13-16;%2027:1,%2023-27;%2028:19;%2029:18;%2031:27&version=NASB">1:5; 6:6-11, 18; 10:4, 5, 26; 11:14; 12:5, 11, 20, 24, 27; 13:4; 14:22, 23; 15:19, 22, 26; 16:1-3, 9, 33; 18:9; 19:15, 21, 24;</a> <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%2020:4,%2013,%2018,%2024;%2021:5,%2025;%2022:13,%2029;%2024:6,%2027,%2030-34;%2026:13-16;%2027:1,%2023-27;%2028:19;%2029:18;%2031:27&version=NASB">20:4, 13, 18, 24; 21:5, 25; 22:13, 29; 24:6, 27, 30-34; 26:13-16; 27:1, 23-27; 28:19; 29:18; 31:27</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Illness and Health - The relationship between spiritual health and physical health</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%203:7-8;%2012:4;%2013:12;%2014:30;%2015:30;%2016:24;%2017:22;%2018:14&version=NASB">3:7-8; 12:4; 13:12; 14:30; 15:30; 16:24; 17:22; 18:14</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Authority - Leading in godliness and wisdom from God</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%208:15-16;%2014:28,%2035;%2016:10,%2012-15;%2017:7;%2019:12;%2020:2,%208,%2026,%2028;%2021:1;%2022:11;%2023:1-3;%2024:21-22;%2025:2-3,%204-5,%206-7;%2027:18;%2028:2,%2015,%2016;%2029:4,%2012,%2014,%2026;%2030:21-23;%2031:1-9&version=NASB">8:15-16; 14:28, 35; 16:10, 12-15; 17:7; 19:12; 20:2, 8, 26, 28; 21:1; 22:11; 23:1-3; 24:21-22; 25:2-3, 4-5, 6-7; 27:18; 28:2, 15, 16; 29:4, 12, 14</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%2029:26;%2030:21-23;%2031:1-9&version=NASB">26; 30:21-23; 31:1-9</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Reliable Messengers (and how this directly applies to us speaking the Gospel ) - Delivering messages with accuracy and in a timely manner</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%2010:26;%2013:17;%2025:13,%2025;%2026:6&version=NASB">10:26; 13:17; 25:13, 25; 26:6</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div><div><span class="fullpost" ><b>Protecting the Vulnerable - God’s concern for orphans and widows</b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%2015:25;%2023:10-12&version=NASB">15:25; 23:10-12</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Shame - Praise belongs to the wise and shame to the proud</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%203:35;%206:32-33;%209:7;%2011:2;%2012:8;%2013:18;%2014:35;%2018:3;%2022:10;%2025:8;%2028:7;%2029:15&version=NASB">3:35; 6:32-33; 9:7; 11:2; 12:8; 13:18; 14:35; 18:3; 22:10; 25:8; 28:7; 29:15</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Wealth and Poverty - The wealth of the fool is temporal; the wealth of the wise is in wisdom itself</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%203:9-10;%206:1-5;%208:18-19;%2010:2,%203,%204,%2015,%2016;%2011:4,%207,%2015,%2024,%2028;%2012:9;%2013:7,%208,%2011,%2022,%2023,%2025;%2014:20,%2021,%2024,%2031;%2015:15,%2016,%2017;%2016:8,%2019;%2017:1,%205,%2018;%2018:11,%2023;%2019:4,%207,%2010,%2014,%2017,%2022;%2020:17,%2021;%2021:6,%2017,%2020;%2022:2,%204,%207,%209,%2013,%2016,%2022-23;%2023:4-5;%2024:3-4;%2027:13,%2023-27;%2028:3,%206,%208,%2011,%2016,%2020,%2025,%2027;%2029:3,%207,%2013,%2014;%2030:7-9&version=NASB">3:9-10; 6:1-5; 8:18-19; 10:2, 3, 4, 15, 16; 11:4, 7, 15, 24, 28; 12:9; 13:7, 8, 11, 22, 23, 25; 14:20, 21, 24, 31; 15:15</a>, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%2015:16,%2017;%2016:8,%2019;%2017:1,%205,%2018;%2018:11,%2023;%2019:4,%207,%2010,%2014,%2017,%2022;%2020:17,%2021;%2021:6,%2017,%2020;%2022:2,%204,%207,%209,%2013,%2016,%2022-23;%2023:4-5;%2024:3-4;%2027:13,%2023-27;%2028:3,%206,%208,%2011,%2016,%2020,%2025,%2027;%2029:3,%207,%2013,%2014;%2030:7-9&version=NASB">16, 17; 16:8, 19; 17:1, 5, 18; 18:11, 23; 19:4, 7, 10, 14, 17, 22; 20:17, 21; 21:6, 17, 20; 22:2, 4, 7, 9, 13, </a><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%2022:16,%2022-23;%2023:4-5;%2024:3-4;%2027:13,%2023-27;%2028:3,%206,%208,%2011,%2016,%2020,%2025,%2027;%2029:3,%207,%2013,%2014;%2030:7-9&version=NASB">16, 22-23; 23:4-5; 24:3-4; 27:13, 23-27; 28:3, 6, 8, 11, 16, 20, 25, 27; 29:3, 7, 13, 14; 30:7-9</a></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >An honorable wife - Avoid woman folly and seek woman wisdom</span></b></span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=prov%205:1-23;%206:20-35;%207:1-27;%2011:22;%2012:4;%2014:1;%2018:22;%2019:13,%2014;%2021:9,%2019;%2022:14;%2025:24;%2027:15-16;%2030:18-19,%2020;%2031:1-9,%2010-31&version=NASB">5:1-23; 6:20-35; 7:1-27; 11:22; 12:4; 14:1; 18:22; 19:13, 14; 21:9, 19; 22:14; 25:24; 27:15-16; 30:18-19, 20; 31:1-9, 10-31</a><br /></span></div></div>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-61741717252172481682011-05-02T11:41:00.000-07:002011-05-02T11:41:40.231-07:00Super True Stories: Best. Conspiracy. Ever. (Ep. 2)<iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5p9CY976_kw?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-37855109118362170742011-04-27T08:29:00.000-07:002011-04-27T08:30:58.028-07:00Welcome to Soma Communities: A Video<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/22754743?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=e65010" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/22754743">Soma Communities - Tacoma, WA</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/vergenetwork">Verge Network</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-57520519804742617882011-04-26T08:24:00.001-07:002011-04-26T08:25:54.513-07:00Interview With Pastor Tim KellerThis interview's climax happens in the last minute. Speaks clearly of what I believe we, as the church, are called to be and do. <br /><br /><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bHQ9MTMwMzgzMTQxNzg1MSZwdD*xMzAzODMxNDQxNjg2JnA9MTI1ODQxMSZkPUFCQ*5ld3NfU*ZQX*xvY2tlX*VtYmVkJm49Ymxv/Z2dlciZnPTImbz1lZmRmOTM3Y2Y3MzA*ODk1YjZmMDU*N2NhNmRjYjY5YyZvZj*w.gif" /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,124,0" width="344" height="278" id="ABCESNWID"><param name="movie" value="http://abcnews.go.com/assets/player/walt2.6/flash/SFP_Walt_2_65.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="flashvars" value="configUrl=http://abcnews.go.com/video/sfp/embedPlayerConfig&configId=406732&clipId=13446271&showId=13446271&gig_lt=1303831417851&gig_pt=1303831441686&gig_g=2&gig_n=blogger" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed src="http://abcnews.go.com/assets/player/walt2.6/flash/SFP_Walt_2_65.swf" quality="high" allowScriptAccess="always" allowNetworking="all" allowfullscreen="true" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="344" height="278" flashvars="configUrl=http://abcnews.go.com/video/sfp/embedPlayerConfig&configId=406732&clipId=13446271&showId=13446271&gig_lt=1303831417851&gig_pt=1303831441686&gig_g=2&gig_n=blogger" name="ABCESNWID"></embed></object>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-24528681721802409972011-04-25T09:14:00.000-07:002011-04-25T10:18:52.611-07:00Pursuing Discipleship Leads to Death<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2MW5U_cVUiY/TbWq4OUN5xI/AAAAAAAABok/zMZGQZIrCH4/s1600/PD.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 113px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2MW5U_cVUiY/TbWq4OUN5xI/AAAAAAAABok/zMZGQZIrCH4/s400/PD.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599569594597369618" /></a><br />If you read my<a href="http://contendearnestly.blogspot.com/2011/04/who-is-god-mere-list-of-facts.html"> last pos</a>t on discipleship, understanding that it starts the second you meet someone, the next thing I must warn you is that discipleship leads to death. Well, it leads to death if one does it the way that God has lead us to disciple. The title, "Pursuing Discipleship" is one that doesn't mean that we start trying to disciple, but it means that discipleship must be one that is a pursuing relationship.<br /><br />The reason we must pursue others, is because it is clearly how God has always been towards, not only us, but towards all of man in all of history. Not only does God pursue, but he shows us the depth that he pursues and the characteristics of true Godly pursuit. Think of it.<br /><br />God pursued Adam and Eve daily in the cool of the day<br /><br />After they sinned...God pursued them in the garden asking, "Where are you?" <br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />After kicking Adam and Eve out of the garden, God still pursued their children, Cain and Abel, for relationship<br /><br />After Cain killed his brother, God pursued Cain and asked, "Where is your brother?"<br /><br />As the story continues, sin was overflowing, but God pursued Noah.<br /><br />God then pursued Abram and brought him out of the land filled with pagan gods and promised him a great nation that would glorify his name.<br /><br />God gives us a clear understanding of how great his pursuit is when he tells the Israelites that he didn't choose them because they were strong, or some sort of great nation. It was merely because he truly loved them.(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deut%207:6-9&version=NASB">Deut 7:6-9</a>)<br /><br />This continues as God's nation is built and decides to leave him and intermarry with pagan countries, etc. When his people find trouble, God pursues them and saves them, but always desiring a relationship with them. <br /><br />I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts<br />Isaiah 65:2<br /><br />After pursuing this nation for hundreds of years through the prophets that weren't listened to (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jer%2035:15&version=NASB">Jer 35:15</a>) God finally showed how far he would go in this pursuing. He sent his Son to us. He literally came down to earth in the flesh to pursue us. This pursuit, the depth of this pursuit, shows us how far we are to go. Jesus died on the cross. He gave up his very life for us, not only that, but he is now "trapped" in the flesh, as an eternal Being, in a human body (although glorified, still flesh of some sort) for eternity. That's the depth of God's pursuit for us. Do you fathom this? That through all of this, all this pursuit, that even as the Christ is hanging on the cross, being spit on, he still pursues by asking the Father to forgive them.<br /><br />Not only do we see this in the scriptures, but ask the Spirit to show you how much he has pursued you, even while you were yet a sinner. We clearly see that God has always pursued people, even though they rejected him.<br /><br />So, the question comes, "What does Christ tell us if we turn to him, what is this going to cost us?"<br /><br />Everything.<br /><br />Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow him. He tells us to be a living sacrifice, that to gain life, we are to lose it. This is the depth of discipleship.<br /><br />So, now what?<br /><br />If discipleship starts the second we meet people and begin relationship with them, when are we allowed to stop pursuing them? If we see how God has pursued man, and ultimately us, the answer is never. We are to pursue in love always. No matter the response from the other person. This is why we are to return evil with love. This is why we are to love our neighbor like ourselves.<br /><br />Christendom has a terrible name of pursuing others like a zit faced teenager pining after the cheer captain that is out of reach. Once rejected, the cowardly teen grovels in self misery and pity. He then either gives up pursuing women entirely, or moves on to another in his pitiful state.<br /><br />This isn't to be us. We are to pursue others as God pursued us. Not in some sort of annoying way, but in a way out of love for our neighbor to show them what God is like. When we "move on" or give up, we do not show off our God, but we show off what it looks like when we live by our own power with our own motives.<br /><br />Our goal in discipleship is not to convert people, our goal is to show others what God is like. Period. We water, we plant...God grows. The problem is that we plant the seed and stare at it for a day and see no growth so we move on...leaving the seed feeling unloved and rejected by yet another crappy Christian farmer.<br /><br />We have the very power of God living inside of us that raised Jesus from the dead. We don't serve some sort of beggar. We serve the King of kings. Lord of lords. <br /><br />What if we lived like this? What if we lived in light of what Christ has done for us and the depth of pursuit he showed us to others? How would this change our community? How would this change our relationships? How would this change the views of the people of God?<br /><br />This type of discipleship that pursues because we have been pursued and loved by God is one that will lead to death...death of self. Because as one pursues like this, we pursue those that don't want to be pursued, we pursue those that hate us in return, we pursue those that reject us over and over again. But, if our identity is found in Jesus and not our converts or how people react to us, it is a beautiful thing to die to that self. <br /><br />Let me ask you. If Jesus told you, "Your neighbor will never turn to me, but will remain in his sin for eternity." Would you pursue him and love him like you love yourself still? Or would you stop the relationship and focus your efforts elsewhere? The answer to that question shows your heart why you are pursuing. <br /><br />We should always pursue to show off what our God is like, not for the sake of what we'll gain from that pursuit and relationship, knowing that it lead our King to his death...but this death leads to life. <br /><br /></span>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-29205588843818474122011-04-22T08:40:00.000-07:002011-04-22T14:45:48.204-07:00What Does it Mean to Make a Brother Stumble?<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/SvmoANNT4TI/AAAAAAAABQc/sSOUL82YIMY/s1600-h/rock.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402533949506576690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 297px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/SvmoANNT4TI/AAAAAAAABQc/sSOUL82YIMY/s400/rock.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>One of the things that always comes up when you speak of tattoos, smoking, drinking, et al is the issue of making a brother stumble to show why one should abstain from doing those things at all. When one proof texts and reads current culture into the passages, they seem to have a great point and one that kept me under a heavy yoke for some time. What actually ended up happening is that this so called "weaker brother" kept me under his yoke of conscience instead of me being able to seek out Christ and his easy yoke and burden that is light. I kept trying to refrain from certain things because I was always worried that I would make a brother stumble and was so consumed by this, my life was more about the weaker brother and his issues than the glorifying of God in my actions and actually loving the weaker brother.<br /><br />We have extremes here that need to be pointed out. One extreme is like the one mentioned above, where we worry about everything, whether it is sin or not and abstain from it all. The other extreme is we say, "screw the weaker brother" and we do whatever we want without care. Like most orthopraxy, extremes suck and fly in the face of Christ and his cross and, so, we need to find the correct balance and test it to Scripture. I want to do some defining to search out how we should live within the context of the weaker brother and what it means to make him stumble.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><strong><span style="color:#660000;">First, what is a "weaker brother"?</span></strong><br /><br />We find the main passages concerning the weaker brother in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%208;10;Romans%2014&version=NASB">1 Corinthians 8 and 10 and also in Romans 14.</a> The weaker brother is the one who wishes to abstain from certain things. They are not the mature in the body, but they are the weak needing care. These people would be those who abstain from things that are not sinful, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, getting tattoos and of course eating meat sacrificed to idols. But, if you know the context of 1 Corinthians 8, 10 and Romans 14 we are not speaking of people who have merely been told that these things were sinful, but have a deep bond that ties the conscience to them. The weaker brother would be someone who has been addicted to smoking or alcohol, or who has a family history of addiction to these things. The weaker brother would be someone who came from a tribe who used to tattoo themselves for the sake of their pagan gods. The weaker brother is one who was in an idolatrous nation that sacrificed meat to gods for worship. These things are deeply entrenched in who they are and what they are about. These things identify them with the "old self."<br /><br />The weaker brother is NOT someone who has issue with these things because of their culture and how they were brought up. One is not a mere weaker brother because they have always been taught that smoking is a sin or that drinking alcohol is a sin. Paul goes much deeper than this and is found when he uses the term to "destroy" the weaker brother (which we will handle later).<br /><br />Paul and Jerusalem Council are dealing with a much deeper issue than someone not liking meat sacrificed to idols, they were dealing with an issue that was deeply ingrained in the people that practiced idolatry in a way that was demonic and part of every day life that associated one with the devil. Again, it would be the same as getting a tattoo for the dead in Leviticus 19:28 to worship some pagan deity. This was binding on the conscience, not because it was "odd" to them, or they were uncomfortable with it, but they were dealing with demonic opposition and something that identified them with their old self when their father was the devil.<br /><br />So, the weaker brother is not merely some nutcase that wants you to abstain from something they don't like, the weaker brother is someone who is coming from an old life in sin, that is dealing with those things associated directly with their sin. Again, think of pagan worship in sacrifices when thinking of 1 Corinthians 8,10 and Romans 14.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#660000;">Making the Weaker Brother Stumble</span></strong><br /><br />Now that we see what is means to be a weaker brother, we need to look at making that brother stumble. This term stumble is used almost synonymously with Paul using the term "destroy". Paul <em>isn't</em> speaking of making someone look at you in a light that is odd. It isn't making someone uncomfortable, but it is literally making them stumble into sin. It would be like you handing someone a beer that you know is an alcoholic and telling them to drink. You, in your freedom, have made the weaker brother stumble or have destroyed them. The thought is putting something (a rock) in the road that they are walking on so that they will trip and severely hurt themselves.<br /><br />People use this for all sorts of things, as though we must have a swivel on our heads to make sure people don't look at us and think we are sinning. This isn't what Paul is speaking on. If this is the case, then Jesus was a sinner. He did things all the time that made people think he was a sinner, but he didn't make them sin. Think of the Pharisees of those that wear suits to church, don't drink, don't smoke, don't play cards, don't watch certain movies, listen to certain music. They do this so that they "will not make someone stumble", but in reality are showing that your sanctification and righteousness comes in what you don't do instead of whom you trust in. Jesus was not for this. What is interesting is that the term "stumble" can be both positive and negative. You can make someone stumble into sin, or make them stumble into righteousness.<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#cc0000;">"See, I lay a stone in Zion,<br />a chosen and precious cornerstone,<br />and the one who trusts in him<br />will never be put to shame."Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,<br />"The stone the builders rejected<br />has become the capstone,"and,<br />"A stone that causes men to stumble<br />and a rock that makes them fall."They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.<br /><br />1 Peter 2:6-8<br /></span></em><br />This is the point that no one actually brings up. If someone is trying to be self righteous in their abstention, the best thing you can do is be a stumbling block to them so that they can see that Christ is the corner stone of their faith, not their abstention for self righteousness. This brother, that abstains for the sake of self righteousness (which none of them will admit) is not the weaker brother, but the prideful brother that needs to be shown their sinful acts. This is why Jesus didn't care if he drank in public, ate with the sinners and loved the hookers. He did it partly to show the self righteous Pharisees their stupidity. We find further evidence of this when Peter has his vision and then eats with the Gentiles. Notice what the self righteous Jews do:<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#cc0000;">So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."<br />Acts 11:2</span></em><br /><br />Did Peter then decide to abstain from eating with them? No, he corrected their self righteous thoughts by telling them the vision of God and using this an opportunity to show the gospel to them. Here is the key. Someone who loves Jesus and not their self righteous deeds will react to this by not condemning the brother living in his freedom but will praise God.<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#cc0000;">When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."<br />Acts 11:18</span></em><br /><br />Could this have been a stone of stumbling for these Jews? Yes. Did Peter refrain, or teach? He taught. Their reaction is an insight to their heart towards the love of God. They reject their self righteousness and cling to their new found Saviour.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#660000;">So, Now What?</span></strong><br /><br />How are we to handle this then? You will notice that Paul has a huge point that he makes when speaking of refraining, and it does not mean that he will refrain always, only when he is knowingly among those whom bears a conscience against meat sacrificed to idols. People like to use Paul's hyperbolic term to bear witness against this when Paul says, "Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble." Paul is using this in speaking to someone he is directly in relationship with at all times, not for the sake of believers out there somewhere who have issues with this. Meaning, if Timothy had issues with this, Paul would never eat meat in fellowship with Timothy. He doesn't mean, he will literally never touch meat again. We see this clearly in the following:<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#cc0000;">If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake — the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.<br />1 Corinthians 10:27-31<br /></span></em><br />Paul states to enjoy your freedom, but to refrain when among someone who has a conscience against something. So, if I am going to a nation of tribes who once used tattoos to worship their god, I will cover up my tattoos. I will do this because this is something that is personal to them and hard for them to take. I will also cover up my tattoos if I go into a home where I know tattoos used to be a way for the person to sin against God in rebellion and they are trying to refrain from such things. I do this with those I KNOWLINGLY have deep issues with certain things that is related and identified to their old life of sin. So is the case with having a vegan over to my house, an alcoholic or someone who was addicted to smoking.<br /><br />But, it doesn't stop here. You don't just refrain when you see these people, but you take the opportunity to teach them. You must teach the weaker, and not allow them to "turn you" into their weaker conscience. This was huge for the ministry of Christ. He was the one teaching the weaker, the weaker were not teaching him to turn to their ways. So, we should deal with the gospel with these people and love and aid them to the grace and freedom found at the cross.<br /><br />Refrain out of love and teach out of love so that they may be won to the victory of the cross. There is a balance here. But, to throw out the "you might make a brother stumble" has become another way to control the actions of others to make them think they are more righteous. This is sin and contrary to the gospel. Also, those who freely do whatever they want without taking consideration of the TRUE weaker brother and don't take the opportunity to teach them in word and action what the Gospel is truly about, also sin.<br /><br />We must live and teach the gospel to others without allowing them to bound up our actions so that we find the gospel as a restrictive gospel instead of a freeing one.<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#cc0000;">"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."<br />Matthew 11:29-30</span></em><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-59837615402460511372011-04-20T10:27:00.000-07:002011-04-25T10:11:58.648-07:00Who is God? A Mere List of Facts?<span style="font-weight:bold;">So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.<br />John 8:31-32<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />In discipleship we have taken this and flopped it. We start like this:<br /><br />Know the truth<br /><br />Be set free<br /><br />Follow Jesus<br /><br />because of this, many people have never actually seen what God is like, they only know facts about him. They can list off many things:<br /><br />He is loving, gracious, all knowing, all powerful, everywhere, infinite, provider, caring, passionate. <br /><br />Here is the issue... We never fall in love with anyone by a list of things we know of them when it's made like a grocery list. I was speaking to a young woman who said she was struggling with her faith, and very confused on who God was and struggled as well because this confusing God was also the very one she was supposed to tell her friends about, strangers about, neighbors about. She would list off all the things above but for some reason they didn't like her algarhythm of a god.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />I then pressed into her.<br /><br />She has a boyfriend so I asked her: What if I were trying to introduce you to your boyfriend before you guys met and I said:<br /><br />He has two eyes, two legs, a face, hair, a mouth, he eats, he hugs people and he wears clothes. <br /><br />Will you be so caught up about him that you'd fall in love with him? <br /><br />She laughed and said of course not. I said, "how have you fell in love with him?" She responded with: our time in relationship with each other. Exactly. She spent time with and walked in relationship and life with him to see what he was like. So much so, that if I were to tell her, " Your boyfriend is a thief and a liar" you wouldnt believe me, because of your understanding of who he is and what he is like.<br /><br />This is how it is with God. He has always wanted relationship with us, so we could show off what he is like to the entire world. This is why discipleship starts with the first time we have contact with a person. We show off what God is like as we walk in God's ways. Because we aren't merely memorizing facts about God, but actually experiencing those facts in relationship with him, we can show him clearly to others. So, instead of just saying God provides, we see that he provides as we lean on his provision and wisdom. We don't merely call him comforter, but we have experienced his comfort during our lives. These things are what we then show off to others as we live in community with them. Up close. So, when they begin to trust in Jesus, they've already seen what a disciple does and experienced it. Because of this, they have a relationship with God and not merely head knowledge that was proven to be more believable than the alternative.<br /><br />Where did we get so off track? We've never had relationships like this. We've never merely known facts about someone and said we were in intimate relationship with them. . But, we can see many people that are living this way. They believe this list of facts, then they work the rest of their lives trying to do things to prove that God is real and true, the same way they know it. In reality, they've never been set free. They are still a slave. Jesus' burden is heavy, not light. And, in the end, the gospel isn't good news and it definitely doesn't bring great joy. Maybe this is the reason why so many pastors and Christians are burnt out...they have a relationship with a spreadsheet of facts instead of walking in the ways of Jesus in real relationship with the Father that sets them free, brings great joy, and who's burden is light.<br /><br />We need to go back to discipleship that starts with walking with others as we walk with God in the cool of the day, so they'll know the truth and so that truth sets them free as it has set us free. <br /><br /></span>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-86394875249985142782010-12-22T09:04:00.000-08:002010-12-22T09:19:39.395-08:00Last Minute Christmas GiftsIf you are in a crunch and you need some gifts here are some quick music ideas. I have recently bought all three of these and they are all very well done. I highly recommend you buy them for someone else or treat yourself with a little love this consumerism time of year...I mean Christmas.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TRIwljTrUrI/AAAAAAAABoU/G4wnt1tUics/s1600/3487584978-1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 350px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TRIwljTrUrI/AAAAAAAABoU/G4wnt1tUics/s400/3487584978-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553554712192307890" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://themerryway.bandcamp.com/">The Merry Way: Deput EP</a> is a short 7 track CD that shows off the voice of Brittany Alvis and musical talents of her husband Mark Alvis. These two, although I personally don't know them, are apart of my Soma family in Tacoma. <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TRIwF8f9z4I/AAAAAAAABoM/bHvJTgpRDZc/s1600/joe_day_grace.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TRIwF8f9z4I/AAAAAAAABoM/bHvJTgpRDZc/s400/joe_day_grace.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553554169198923650" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://noisetrade.com/joeday">Grace, by Joe Day</a> from Mars Hill has some fresh songs and some songs I've had for years in my library, but are remixed very well.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TRIv6fwB1nI/AAAAAAAABoE/OiM2QUxgzOI/s1600/-1%255B1%255D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TRIv6fwB1nI/AAAAAAAABoE/OiM2QUxgzOI/s400/-1%255B1%255D.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553553972503107186" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://thestory.bandcamp.com">The Story: Vol 1</a> is by far my favorite album of the year. It combines a bunch of talent out of my family in <a href="http://www.somacommunities.org">Soma</a>. The skills of <a href="http://www.aaronspiro.com">Aaron Spiro</a>, <a href="http://www.trevordavismusic.com">Trevor Davis</a>, <a href="http://www.brittanyalvis.com">Brittany Alvis</a> and Holly Campbell are amazingly displayed. I can't recommend this album enough. And, when you buy it, listen to it all the way through without skipping songs or pushing shuffle...just sit back and hear the Story of God displayed through song. Stunning.Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-63394576753024812912010-12-21T09:25:00.000-08:002010-12-21T09:28:41.450-08:00The Story: Volume 1<object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4191577634/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="400" height="100"><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4191577634/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowNetworking" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="never"><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4191577634/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" width="400" height="100"></object></object><br /><br /><br /><i>In Tacoma, a group of musicians and songwriters formed around the Story and wrote songs in response to what they had experienced during their time together. The songs they wrote and shared with each other were beautiful, powerful, and life-changing. They showcased these songs live at a monthly songwriter showcase in Tacoma. These events became an important time each month in our city as crowds gathered to hear these new songs that touched on eternal truths. The songs weren’t preachy or churchy, but were written from the heart—exposing weakness, need, grace, and hope.<br /><br />This offering represents our first effort to record and share these songs—these stories—with you, your families, and friends. We hope they will encourage you as much as they encourage us. Any money made from the sale of this music will go to fund future recordings and new churches being started. Thanks for helping us continue on this amazing journey. There are more songs where these came from, so keep your eyes and ears open for the future...</i><br /><br />creditsreleased 19 December 2010<br />---------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Produced by Buddy Ross<br />Executive Producer: Aaron Spiro<br /><br />Mastered by Chris Greely at Solid Rock in Portland, OR<br />Mixed by Buddy Ross except Isaiah 60 mixed by Chris Greely and Good, Right, Perfect mixed by Buddy Ross and Chris Greely.<br /><br />The Story of God narratives can be found at <div><a href="www.gcmcollective.com/article/story-formed-way">www.gcmcollective.com/article/story-formed-way </a><br /><br />Stay God and Hell to Pay appear courtesy of The Merry Way. <a href="www.themerryway.bandcamp.com">www.themerryway.bandcamp.com </a><br /><br />Art direction, design & photography by Mark Alvis <a href="www.alvisdesign.com">www.alvisdesign.com</a><br /><br />We would love to see other communities of artists respond to the story though art & music. Please share your excellent work with us - contact us! We would love to collaborate! Send to: <a href="Story@somacommunities.org">Story@somacommunities.org</a>.<br /><br /><a href="www.somacommunities.org">www.somacommunities.org</a><br /><a href="www.trevordavismusic.com">www.trevordavismusic.com</a><br /><a href="www.aaronspiro.com">www.aaronspiro.com</a><br /><a href="www.brittanyalvis.com">www.brittanyalvis.com</a><br /><a href="buddy.buddyross@gmail.com">buddy.buddyross@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="holly.campbell@gmail.com">holly.campbell@gmail.com</a><br /></div>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-7535739883689306182010-12-15T15:57:00.001-08:002010-12-15T15:57:56.440-08:00A Social Network Christmas<object width="499" height="306"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sghwe4TYY18?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sghwe4TYY18?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="499" height="306"></embed></object>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-44957754142923184682010-12-08T14:21:00.000-08:002010-12-08T14:22:24.812-08:00What if This Christmas Was Different? What if...<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/f00QyN7VKiA?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f00QyN7VKiA?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Go to the </strong></span><a href="http://www.adventconspiracy.org/"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Advent Conspiracy</strong></span></a><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong> to see how you can help</strong></span>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-40859277833754991252010-12-08T14:12:00.001-08:002010-12-08T14:14:33.037-08:00The Advent Conspiracy<object width="499" height="306"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LkTyPzRzuwc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LkTyPzRzuwc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="499" height="306"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Go to the </strong></span><a href="http://www.adventconspiracy.org/"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Advent Conspiracy</strong></span></a><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong> to see how you can help</strong></span>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-62089554837934642432010-10-26T12:43:00.001-07:002010-10-26T12:44:44.043-07:00The 4 G's<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TMcvkeadG1I/AAAAAAAABn8/UeTaAahCFG4/s1600/4gs.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 309px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532442970933762898" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TMcvkeadG1I/AAAAAAAABn8/UeTaAahCFG4/s400/4gs.jpg" /></a>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-48068666159313681592010-10-07T10:26:00.000-07:002010-10-07T11:00:27.759-07:00Hairy Legs and the Kingdom of God<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TK4KnXHmbgI/AAAAAAAABn0/DU6VzTdSE7M/s1600/hairy.bmp"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525365464167247362" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TK4KnXHmbgI/AAAAAAAABn0/DU6VzTdSE7M/s400/hairy.bmp" /></a><br /><div>I was at an event this past weekend called, <a href="http://www.jesusinthequran.org/">Jesus in the Quran</a>, and was caught off guard when I heard one verse read from the gospel of Luke. I actually looked it up to make sure he wasn't making it up. Check this out:<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#cc0000;">The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.<br />Luke 16:16</span></em><br /><br />This is Jesus speaking here, and he is speaking to the Pharisees. Think about this...the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. This is quite amazing. This idea of "forces" is also seen as someone pushing themselves into the kingdom in a forceful manner...like they can't wait to enter because of what they have heard preached. Now, I am not denying God's sovereign rule here, so don't read that. But, the question has to come, "Why aren't people around you (me) forcing their way into the kingdom?"<br /><br />Some will say that is because they are like Jeremiah, who brought the oracles of God and it was just God's will for him to be "unsuccesful" in the eyes of the world. But what if it isn't? What if what we are preaching is causing people to be turned off to the gospel? What if we have created our own Gospel, that isn't good news at all? Think of this. Just after this Jesus brings up that not one jot of the law will be destroyed, yet people will force their way into the kingdom. Meaning, the only way the Pharisees were going to keep people out of the kingdom is if they ADD to the law and the prophets, which they did plenty of.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />I remember when I was in middle school, or somewhere around there, and I learned that some women around the world didn't shave their legs or arm pits. I was honestly disgusted. I couldn't believe it. How could women not understand that in order to be beautiful, they needed to shave? Not only that, but the dudes didn't mind if their women had hair all over their bodies...seriously?<br /><br />Throughout my life, the more I learn about other cultures, the more I learn what is truly Western, or cultural, and what is actual truth. As I read something like this in Luke's gospel, I wonder if people aren't pushing, or forcing their way into the kingdom of God because we aren't making Jesus look as glorious as he should be? What if we have created such a Western, consumeristic Jesus that he looks disgusting instead? What if it is more about accepting a certian cultural standard than what the gospels actually speak about?<br /><br />Not only that, but what if what we preach, we don't live? So, not only do we preach a Western Jesus, but we aren't even willing to follow that Western Jesus? How much of the gospel do we need to bastardize before we wake up and see the lives we are ruining?<br /><br />Jesus said this:<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#cc0000;">My yoke is easy, my burden is light.<br /></span></em><br />Seems like we are creating some sort of quasi secret club, where you need to climb the levels of understanding and culture to be redeemed.<br /><br />What is amazing about this, is that the gospel is so simple that the theif on the cross merely believed and was said that he would see Jesus in paradise.<br /><br />We have lost our first love...belief in Jesus and his power. Not only that, but we refuse to live like he calls us to. We don't love our neighbors, we don't love, pray for or bless our enemies, we aren't peacemakers, we aren't humble, etc. etc. etc.<br /><br />Return to the gospel and look to see where you have Westernized the good news and get rid of that as a requirement to enter the kingdom. If it is your conviction, that is fine, but don't put your conviction onto others, or they might never force their way into the kingdom.<br /><br /></span></div>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-79291368268830770122010-09-30T08:51:00.000-07:002010-09-30T08:59:16.812-07:00Lesson from Butterfly...Sent to Me From a Local Muslim Imam<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKSzrJ1Y28I/AAAAAAAABns/1VN0wLN331k/s1600/butterfly-cocoon.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 212px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522736597018663874" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKSzrJ1Y28I/AAAAAAAABns/1VN0wLN331k/s400/butterfly-cocoon.jpg" /></a><br /><div>This was sent to me from a local Imam who has become very close friends with one of my good friends. He is a very gentle man who very much loves God and desires to worship him in all aspects of his life. I thought you would enjoy this and think about how conversations about the different faiths could spring from a story like this one.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">About Struggling...</span></strong><br /><br />A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.<br /><br />Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Allah's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.<br /><br />Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If Allah allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never "fly"!<br /><br />I asked for Strength.........<br />And Allah gave me Difficulties to make me strong.<br /><br />I asked for Wisdom.........<br />And Allah gave me Problems to solve.<br /><br />I asked for Prosperity.........<br />And Allah gave me Brain and Brawn to work.<br /><br />I asked for Courage.........<br />And Allah gave me Danger to overcome.<br /><br />I asked for Love..........<br />And Allah gave me Troubled people to help.<br /><br />I asked for Favors.........<br />And Allah gave me Opportunities.<br /><br />I received nothing I wanted .......<br />I received everything I needed! </div>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-2463683790992157702010-09-29T09:16:00.000-07:002010-09-29T10:14:56.998-07:00Tips on Disciplining Your Children<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKNxaK8o_HI/AAAAAAAABnk/Gb8MVG9NAr0/s1600/tap-out.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 377px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 377px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522382262515596402" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKNxaK8o_HI/AAAAAAAABnk/Gb8MVG9NAr0/s400/tap-out.jpg" /></a><br />I have a read many things on the understanding of disciplining my children and try to be faithful in my love for them. The one thing I know for sure is, disciplining my children is very difficult. The reason is that to discipline them like God calls me to takes more time and more effort than if I were to merely yell at them, give them a time out or spank them. Not only that, but when I discipline them with a gospel intention, it brings my own sin and rebellious heart to the forefront. I have two boys, 7 and 4, so I would rather just wrestle them into submission and make them tap out. Although that would bring some quick satisfaction, the long term affects could be very odd.<br /><br />On that note, here are some tips to aid you (and remind me) of how to discipline your children.<br /><br /><strong>1. Use Scripture Always, Not Only in Discipline</strong><br /><br />I have noticed a lot of parents like to use Scripture when disciplining their child. What will happen to that child if every time they hear Scripture it is because they are in trouble? They will come to despise Scripture and see it as a rule book to follow. Completely the wrong message we should be giving them. Scripture should be used like it was intended. Scripture is a way to show us how to achieve our greatest joy for the glory of God. Redemption is at the center of this understanding of joy. It should be "used" as such.<br /><br />We should be always speaking about the gospel, whether or not the child is in trouble or when the child is showing the love of Jesus to their sibling or friends. Let me give you an example. Ephesians 6:1 says, <em>"Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right."</em> I have seen most use this verse only when kids are in trouble. But what about using it when the child DOES obey their parents? What about showing them why it is important to obey their parents? You have to give more than mere commands, you have to show them the truth of why it is God's command. Show them that the reason they should obey you, is because you want them to have the most joy in their lives and create the most joy in those that they are friends with. Show that you desire their joy and that is why you have different rules and such. Instead of seeing this verse as only a "negative" they see the wide truth claim it actually provides and it gives them a chance to see it's goodness. Think of telling them why you want them to look both ways before they cross the road. It isn't because you want to control them and make them stay where you want. You want them to look both ways to keep them safe, so they don't get hurt. When giving commands or using Scripture, you should always think of explaining it to them like you would when telling them to look both ways before crossing the road. With that truth, they see you as loving and not as controlling.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><strong>2. Be Just in Your Discipline, Pray About Your Discipline...and Mean It!<br /></strong><br />Make the punishment fit the crime. Don't under punish and don't over punish. So, if your child punches a kid in the face, don't merely tell him "that's okay, try not to do that." If your child sneaks cookies, don't ground them for three months and spank them every hour on the hour. I would highly recommend that you don't punish right away, unless it is something small. But, take time to tell them you are going to go to God in prayer to seek out his wisdom on what the punishment will be. This isn't just to show your child that you trust in God's wisdom, which it will do, <em>but this is actually for you to seek out God's wisdom on the correct punishment</em>.<br /><br />Sometimes you won't even have to punish because if your child eats too much cookies, they might have a stomach ache and that is punishment enough...you just need to instruct them in those moments. So, don't always feel like you have to add punishment on top of the natural consequences that come with sin.<br /><br />When you come to the decision of what the punishment will be, make sure that is the punishment that is carried out. If you say you are going to take away their toys, their blanket or whatever for a month...it better stand. They can see when you are weak, they can see when they can test you. Be careful what you say, but make sure that you mean what you say and carry it out.<br /><br />Let your yes be yes, and your no be your no. If you say "no" to your child, mean it. Don't count, don't give them another chance, don't continually give in to your child. When you do, you are just showing them that if they keep at something, you will eventually give in. You are teaching them that persistence in sin pays off! If you only "mean it" on the third no, or when you get to the number three when counting...they will then push you to go that far before they stop. Your kids aren't stupid, they just want to know the boundaries.<br /><br />In regards to this...make sure that you are always praying that God would have you discipline well and like Him and not like your selfish self. Always be praying for wisdom, so that when you need to discipline in haste, it will be godly and not out of a sinful heart that desires to be the authority. Praying about discipline shouldn't only happen at the time of incidents, but should be continual and persistant.<br /><br /><strong>3. Do Not Discipline When You're Angry<br /></strong><br />No matter what...wait. Do not discipline when you are angry. You will say things you don't mean, you will not be patient, you will be harsher than you intend and you will have a lot of apologizing to do afterwards. My wife and I have an agreement. If either of us can see the other one getting angry in discipline, the other can tell the other one to dismiss themselves. We have agreed that we won't get angry, we won't respond, we won't fight it, but will trust the other one and remove ourselves from the situation. When discplining while angry you will always come off to the child as unloving and self righteous. You will never come off as one who is trying to seek out their joy and comfort. You will not be the one that they can trust, but just a crazy dictator that needs to be obeyed until they can move out. <br /> <br /><strong>4. Be Gospel Centered</strong><br /><br />You should never discipline without bringing it back to the gospel and the heart of the sinner. Always show off Jesus and his forgiveness in discipline. Make sure that your child understands this and sees how much Jesus, AND YOU, love them and forgives them. Don't make this a guilt trip of "look at what you did!" but make it all about the greatness of Jesus.<br /><br />As an example. My kid got in trouble for throwing a ball inside the house after we told him to stop. We asked, "What is your sin?" He said, "Throwing the ball." We asked, "Is it a sin to throw a ball?" He replied, "No." We said, "So what is your sin?" He responded, "Not obeying you in telling me to not throw the ball." We continued, "So, are you desiring to obey your parents, or doing what you desire?"<br /><br />Afterwards, we hand down the punishment, show him the cross and then we pray with him and then have him pray to Jesus for forgiveness.<br /><br />Not only this, but we always include in our discipline the fact that mommy and daddy are sinners and do the exact same things that they do and also are in need of the gospel and the cross of Jesus. We make sure our children understand that mommy and daddy are not their saviour and are not the end all, but we are in as much need as they are of Jesus. BE TRANSPARENT IN THIS. Be real. Be a true sinner in front of your children calling out for grace. Make sure they understand you are in the same boat, and Jesus is the captain, not you.<br /><br /><strong>5. Don't Be Scared to Show Grace<br /></strong><br />This freaks kids out. Think of it. Do you get physically punished every time you deserve it? There are times where we work everything out and then ask our kids, "How do you think you should be punished?" They'll come up with something and we'll correct where needed, and then we'll tell them we are not going to punish them but show them grace. This gives them a practical understanding of what grace is and the forgiveness shown in the cross. I have found this to be amazing to show off God and His good news. We don't want to raise legalists that think, "If I do good...good things happen, if I do bad...bad things happen...so I will do this, and not that." You want to raise children who obey you because they love you, and when they understand the gospel, they will want to serve God, because they love him, not to get good things from him or out of a thought that God will love them more because of their actions. Showing your kids grace is one of the best things you can do in discipline if you do it correctly with gospel intentions. <br /><br /><strong>6. Speak to Them Literally at Their Level</strong><br /><br />Do not stand over your children when you discipline. Squat down, or sit down and look them in the eyes. They should never see you as some sort of "higher up" that is screaming down on them. Jesus came down from heaven to show us grace, we should take the time to merely squat down to speak to them eye to eye. This might sound small, but it shows more than you might think.<br /><br />Discipline can be a very difficult subject to speak on or to approach. These are just a few things that my wife and I are continually trying to accomplish when we discipline. We are definitely not perfect and fail all the time. When we do, we go to our children and seek out their forgiveness, showing that we are not some "super Christian" that is over them and better than them. I know this isn't exhaustive, but these are the things that have really spoken to my wife and I on how to discipline with Jesus and his gospel being the center of it and not peripheral. To make this work, you can't just do this on the fly, but you must be continually in prayer, have open communication with your wife or husband and be ready to be consistent. This is a lifestyle, not something you can just do every once in a while.<br /><br />I hope that this helps with those who have children and can show you how we have filtered the Scriptures so that the story of redemption is shown every day, including when they are being disciplined.<br /><br /></span>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-25679326772988275932010-09-28T13:30:00.000-07:002010-09-28T13:35:22.368-07:00Materialistic Obsession: A Cartoon<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKJQjVU4tGI/AAAAAAAABnc/2HRhyXCOezU/s1600/2010-09-21-somanyclocks.jpeg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 386px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522064661060039778" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKJQjVU4tGI/AAAAAAAABnc/2HRhyXCOezU/s400/2010-09-21-somanyclocks.jpeg" /></a>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-27582608428675058082010-09-28T09:15:00.000-07:002010-09-28T09:59:27.497-07:00Atheists Know More About Religion? Not Surprising<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKIeyTx-YwI/AAAAAAAABnU/1V8IT2L2upE/s1600/atheist.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 122px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKIeyTx-YwI/AAAAAAAABnU/1V8IT2L2upE/s400/atheist.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522009942761825026" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKIeZsj_thI/AAAAAAAABnM/5brkrzeYu-A/s1600/atheist.jpg"><br /></a><br />In a new survey it has shown that Atheists and Agnostics know more about religion than the average Protestant. If you want to read a short story on this, check out this news story <a href="http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=371157&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">here</a>. But, if you think about it, they probably should. The reason I say this is that those who have a deep knowledge of religion and see its affects, no doubt will they become unbelievers of religion itself. This isn't surprising, nor is it troubling. When one looks at religion, specifically Christianity as a whole (putting both Catholicism and Protestantism in the same breath), it is pretty grotesque to look at and see any resemblance of Jesus. Why wouldn't those who have done a ton of study on religion become unbelievers? I honestly don't believe that many who call themselves atheists or agnostics have heard the true story of Jesus or those who actually follow him. What they have received is a look at what religion does to a people, instead of seeing those who are actually transformed by the good news of Jesus. One could call me an atheist to this kind of religion as well.<br /><br />In the movie, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037705/">The Book of Eli</a> (a movie about a post apocalyptic world), one of the villains desperately wants a copy of the Bible because he desires to control the minds of others. He said, "it's happened once, it can happen again." What we see is that it has nothing to do with the Bible that causes people to sin and reign over people, but the person who uses it for their own gain. It's like a knife. It can either be used for open heart surgery to save a life, or used by a murderer to kill someone. The knife isn't the problem, the person is.<br /><br />The main character in The Book of Eli, played by Denzel Washington, states this (talking about the Bible):<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">In all these years I've been carrying it and reading it every day, I got so caught up in keeping it safe that I forgot to live by what I learned from it. </span><br /><br />If you have seen this movie, you will notice this is a very profound and timely quote. <span class="fullpost"><br /><br />When one then reads that atheists know more facts about the Bible than a lot of Protestants, many pastors will use this as sermon material to challenge their people. But, is this the point of the good news? Are we supposed to know facts about the Bible, or are we to be living examples of the Bible and point people to Jesus? The survey shows that some Protestants didn't know basic things like who Martin Luther was, or about what transubstantiation is truly about. Although these things might add to someone's faith, is this the most important things about our faith? Not at all. Our faith in Jesus shouldn't be about merely knowing facts about Jesus (which is important), or facts about the Bible (which is important), but our faith should be in the understanding that no matter how smart or how dumb we are, we are all in the same position of wrath because of our sin. We are in need of a Saviour. We are in need of Jesus.<br /><br />I would rather see us, who believe in Jesus, show who the real Jesus is by loving our neighbors, by loving, praying for and blessing our enemies, instead of going to war with them. I would rather someone say to me, "your the dumbest person I have ever met, but one thing I know, you are a lot like Jesus." This isn't to show that I am some great person, but that I merely serve the greatest person to ever live, die and live again...the God/Man...Jesus.<br /><br />This is exactly what the people said of some of the disciples in the days after Jesus ascended to heaven:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Acts 4:15</span><br /><br />Maybe instead of trying to be the smartest guys in the room, we should desire to merely serve the smartest guys in the room. Maybe instead of trying to do good on a test about facts about Jesus, we could show people up close who Jesus is and what he is about. Maybe instead of being a functional atheist, living like there is no god, we could live like we actually believe what was written to us by our God.<br /><br />Maybe.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">John 13:34-35</span><br /></span>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-71904797246051862682010-09-27T11:09:00.000-07:002010-09-27T11:21:59.313-07:00The Incomparable Christ<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKDgHkOf-RI/AAAAAAAABnE/_8mGEVfwTgk/s1600/christ.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 89px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521659563744426258" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1ZZFL05ncxE/TKDgHkOf-RI/AAAAAAAABnE/_8mGEVfwTgk/s400/christ.jpg" /></a><br /><div>This comes from John Piper's book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Desiring-God-Meditations-Christian-Hedonist/dp/0880708697">Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist</a>.<br /><br /><strong>THE INCOMPARABLE CHRIST</strong> </div><br /><div><br />Let me try to illustrate what I mean by the self-authenticating message of Christ and His witnesses. The biblical accounts present Jesus as a man of incomparable love for God and man. He became angry when God was dishonored by irreligion (Mark 11:15–17) and when man was destroyed by religion (Mark 3:4–5). He taught us to be poor in spirit, meek, hungry for righteousness, pure in heart, merciful, and peaceable (Matthew 5:3–9). He urged us to honor God from the heart (Matthew 15:8) and to put away all hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). And He practiced what He preached. His life was summed up as “doing good and healing” (Acts 10:38).<br /></div><div></div><div><br />He took time for little children and blessed them (Mark 10:13–16). He crossed social barriers to help women (John 4), foreigners (Mark 7:24–30), lepers (Luke 17:11–19), harlots (Luke 7:36–50), tax collectors (Matthew 9:9–13), and beggars (Mark 10:46–52). He washed disciples’ feet like a slave and taught them to serve rather than be served (John 13:1–17). Even when He was exhausted, His heart went out in compassion to the pressing crowds (Mark 6:31–34). Even when His own disciples were fickle and ready to deny Him and forsake Him, He wanted to be with them (Luke 22:15), and He prayed for them (Luke 22:32). He said His life was a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), and as He was being executed at age thirty-three, He prayed for the forgiveness of His murderers (Luke 23:34).<br /><span class="fullpost"><br />Not only is Jesus portrayed as full of love for God and man; He is also presented as utterly truthful and authentic. He did not act on His own authority to gain worldly praise. He directed men to His Father in heaven: “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood” (John 7:18). He does not have the spirit of an egomaniac or a charlatan. He seems utterly at peace with Himself and God. He is authentic.</span></div><div><span class="fullpost"><br />This is evident in the way He saw through people’s sham (Matthew 22:18). He was so pure and so perceptive that He could not be tripped up or cornered in debate (Matthew 22:15–22). He was amazingly unsentimental in His demands, even toward those for whom He had a special affection (Mark 10:21). He never softened the message of righteousness to increase His following or curry favor. Even His opponents were stunned by His indifference to human praise: “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God” (Mark 12:14). He never had to back down from a claim and could be convicted of no wrong (John 8:46). He was meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). </span></div><span class="fullpost"><div><br />But what made all this so amazing was the unobtrusive yet unmistakable authority that rang through all He did and said. The officers of the Pharisees speak for all of us when they say, “No man ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46). There was something unmistakably different about Him: “He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:29).<br /><br />His claims were not the open declaration of worldly power that the Jews expected from the Messiah. But they were unmistakable nonetheless. Though no one understood it at the time, there was no doubt that He had said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19; Matthew 26:61). They thought it was an absurd claim that He would singlehandedly rebuild an edifice that had been forty-six years in the making. But He was claiming in His typically veiled way that He would rise from the dead—and by His own power.</div><div><br />In His last debate with the Pharisees (Matthew 22:41–45), Jesus silenced them with this question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They answered, “The son of David.” In response, Jesus quoted David from Psalm 110:1: “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ ” Then, with only slightly veiled authority, Jesus asked, “If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” In other words, for those who have eyes to see, the son of David—and far more than the son—is here.<br />“The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:41–42). This kind of veiled claim runs through all Jesus said and did.</div><div><br />Besides that, He commanded evil spirits and they obeyed Him (Mark 1:27). He issued forgiveness for sins (Mark 2:5). He summoned people to leave all and follow Him to have eternal life and treasure in heaven (Mark 10:17–22; Luke 14:26–33). And He made the astonishing claim that “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32–33).<br /><br />Piper, John: Desiring God. Sisters, Or. : Multnomah Publishers, 2003, S. 324<br /></div></span>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27391906.post-52587272280216580272010-09-24T11:17:00.000-07:002010-09-24T11:21:07.948-07:00Best Sermon Ever PreachedI believe this is the best sermon ever preached and one that we should truly model our own preaching from. The centrality of the good news and Messiah and the penetration of the hearts of those hearing is quite astonishing...especially since it was about half a minute in length.<br /><br /><em>And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.<br /><br />And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,<br /><br />Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.<br /><br />He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,<br /><br />And recovery of sight to the blind,<br /><br />To set free those who are oppressed,<br /><br />To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”<br /></span><br />And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.<br /><br />And He began to say to them, <span style="color:#ff0000;">“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”</span><br /><br />And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”<br /><br />And He said to them, <span style="color:#ff0000;">“No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ”<br /></span><br />And He said, <span style="color:#ff0000;">“Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.<br /><br />“But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land;<br /><br />and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.<br /><br />“And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”<br /></span><br />And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;<br /><br />and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.<br /><br />But passing through their midst, He went His way.<br /><br />Luke 4:16-30</em>Seth McBeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08765679934165890595noreply@blogger.com1