Reading Revelation it is interesting to see how Jesus speaks to the churches in the first few chapters.
There is a discussion of what is going well, or what is going poorly, or both, and then an encouragement to "conquer" and then the promise of a reward.
Sometimes the thing to conquer was persecution, and other times just their own fleshly desires.
I find with myself that persecution definitely has come and gone in my
life, though it has been very mild. Mostly the thing that needs conquered in
my life are my fleshly desires.
It is comforting to know that Jesus is compassionate and that he loves us and rewards us even for the obedience we offer that he himself works in us. Like the hymn says, "why should I gain from his reward, I can not give an answer".
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
If God looks at me like I look at you
I was holding my 9 day old Emmylou this morning before work for about an hour.
I had already read a few chapters of the bible and was thinking about it and praying as I held her when the above thought came to mind.
I hate leaving Chrissy and her to go to work, even though I am thankful I have a job and get to provide for Chrissy to stay home with Emmy. It still kills me to see her there sleeping and know that I can't be with her all day and I am going to miss so much of her development over time, just being at work, not to mention all the time I spend hanging out with people from church (when she can't come with me anyway).
Its comforting to know that God longs to spend time with us, so much so that he came to live inside of us. Psalm 139 says he thinks about us as much as there are grains of sand. I think about Emmylou a lot, but not that much. I get distracted and annoyed and proud and selfish, God doesn't. He just looks at us, and muses about us, longs for the day we are united eternally with him.
I'm thankful God is a better father to me than even I long to be with her. He will never fail us, never stop loving us, never get too tired or annoyed. He always wants to hold us near to him and is interested in every movement we make.
As a flawed, not-good human, I love Emmylou and only want whats best for her. I want to comfort her when she is crying and I want to clean her when she makes a mess. God loves us much more than we will ever love anything.
I had already read a few chapters of the bible and was thinking about it and praying as I held her when the above thought came to mind.
I hate leaving Chrissy and her to go to work, even though I am thankful I have a job and get to provide for Chrissy to stay home with Emmy. It still kills me to see her there sleeping and know that I can't be with her all day and I am going to miss so much of her development over time, just being at work, not to mention all the time I spend hanging out with people from church (when she can't come with me anyway).
Its comforting to know that God longs to spend time with us, so much so that he came to live inside of us. Psalm 139 says he thinks about us as much as there are grains of sand. I think about Emmylou a lot, but not that much. I get distracted and annoyed and proud and selfish, God doesn't. He just looks at us, and muses about us, longs for the day we are united eternally with him.
I'm thankful God is a better father to me than even I long to be with her. He will never fail us, never stop loving us, never get too tired or annoyed. He always wants to hold us near to him and is interested in every movement we make.
As a flawed, not-good human, I love Emmylou and only want whats best for her. I want to comfort her when she is crying and I want to clean her when she makes a mess. God loves us much more than we will ever love anything.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Emmylou June Johnson
Emmylou was born last night at 6:48. Is 6lbs 8oz, 20 inches and perfect. The scariest moment of my life was when I saw her for the first time. She had the cord wrapped around her neck 3 times and the doctor looked really nervous. But they cut it off of her and she has been fine ever since.
After that Chrissy and I and Emmylou had to go to the hallway because of a tornado warning, this happened twice. The a huge rainbow appeared in the sky and we figured there probably wouldn't be a tornado today, and I made a joke about how this might be God telling us she is gonna have the soul of a tortured artist.
Everything we prayed for has come true. From the nurses we got, to the health of our baby and that she is able to nurse, to Chrissy delivering drug free and getting the room we wanted and even which facial features would be mine and which Chrissy's.
When Chrissy was in the bathroom I told Emmylou that I would always love her because the grace of God would help me to do so. Chrissy and I read Psalm 139 together and keep reminding each other that this baby is Jesus's, and he has entrusted her to us. That being the case, we have an obligation to be wise, loving, kind, and thoughtful about how we raise her and pray for her.
It's hard to read and pray with her around so far but I know that the best way to love her is for me to keep pursuing Christ and his love for me. Please pray that Chrissy and I's love for God would increase and not decrease.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Right-ness
Romans 5:17 For
if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man,
much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free
gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.(ESV)
Sometimes it helps me to write this out like-so:
Adam (and thereby man) chose "other than God" which itself was sinful, and led to more sin by: corrupting his heart and his body. Sin separated us from God. He was given death, and eventually (of himself) would be given eternal punishment for his rebellion.
Jesus chose God with every decision, and ultimately paid for the sin of human beings who rebelled. This leads to less sin and an increase of purity in our heart and our bodies. Positionally we are reunited with God. We are given life, and eventually eternity with Christ in heaven.
So how is this equation unequal? How will grace and the free gift of righteousness much more allow us to reign in life then how death reigns because of sin?
Adam wasn't exactly in a state of "non-righteousness/non-sin". He was in the presence of God so he was clearly not sinful in the least before the fall. You can't be "non sinful" and somehow be less than totally righteous. You are one or the other, sinful or totally right.
Well, we aren't just given positional righteousness, we are also given rewards in heaven for obedience that is totally Christ-driven. We are told we can reign with Christ in heaven. We will get perfect bodies and be triumphant over our enemies (again, Christ is the only one who triumphed over anything). And as for righteousness, we weren't made right once, then we can sin and break it. But we are right for all time, with Jesus' righteousness that he earned, not us. Its a different thing to be given the righteousness of someone perfect, who invented the term.
Sometimes it helps me to write this out like-so:
Adam (and thereby man) chose "other than God" which itself was sinful, and led to more sin by: corrupting his heart and his body. Sin separated us from God. He was given death, and eventually (of himself) would be given eternal punishment for his rebellion.
Jesus chose God with every decision, and ultimately paid for the sin of human beings who rebelled. This leads to less sin and an increase of purity in our heart and our bodies. Positionally we are reunited with God. We are given life, and eventually eternity with Christ in heaven.
So how is this equation unequal? How will grace and the free gift of righteousness much more allow us to reign in life then how death reigns because of sin?
Adam wasn't exactly in a state of "non-righteousness/non-sin". He was in the presence of God so he was clearly not sinful in the least before the fall. You can't be "non sinful" and somehow be less than totally righteous. You are one or the other, sinful or totally right.
Well, we aren't just given positional righteousness, we are also given rewards in heaven for obedience that is totally Christ-driven. We are told we can reign with Christ in heaven. We will get perfect bodies and be triumphant over our enemies (again, Christ is the only one who triumphed over anything). And as for righteousness, we weren't made right once, then we can sin and break it. But we are right for all time, with Jesus' righteousness that he earned, not us. Its a different thing to be given the righteousness of someone perfect, who invented the term.
What its Like to Plant a Church (The Wonder Years)
About 40 people started a church on the south side of Des Moines this year and its....been awesome.
I was a Nervous Nelly going into this church plant. Last summer we were gearing up to go door to door and listen to our pastor talk about what it takes to start a church (we were planted from a congregation downtown), and there didn't seem to be a crazy amount of enthusiasm, myself included.
Granted, we were going DOOR TO DOOR once a week. Sharing the gospel with people cold turkey in the Iowa summer's balmy upper 80's at minimum. It felt like you were covered in warm cottage cheese as soon as you stepped outside. And I don't know if its anyone's favorite activity to go door to door sharing - heck, maybe you are way more spiritual than I - but it sure isn't my favorite.
Every week I wanted to make an excuse not to go, and I mean every. But I didn't want to be a bad example to others and the Spirit of God inside of me was basically saying, "Its good, just go." So go I did.
Since then we have gone through a myriad of troubles securing a building, getting said building up to city liking (took 6 months longer than we thought is all) and wondering if people were discouraged or just kinda rolling with things.
Another struggle came with planning. There are pastors in our church, naturally...being that its a church. But no specific pastors were coming along with this church plant so basically it was up to a monthly meeting with the pastors to really nail stuff down and plan. Which, when it comes to the nitty gritty, once a month doesn't really cut it. I felt disconnected from other community group leaders that were semi-in-charge like myself, and didn't really know what my role was.
One of the guys asked me to get together so we could do a little planning together, and the next week he invited another guy. That second guy, we'll call him Mike, cause that's his name, he voiced frustrations with basically all of the stuff I was thinking about: lack of clarity, people in the church may be getting frustrated, a lot of people feeling like they don't know what is going on.
So we talked to the pastors and got their permission to do some planning of our own. We've been getting together weekly ever since and discussing and planning, sharing our thoughts with the pastors and other leaders, and its been so much better.
"Get counsel or fail miserably" - Every proverb ever
I was a Nervous Nelly going into this church plant. Last summer we were gearing up to go door to door and listen to our pastor talk about what it takes to start a church (we were planted from a congregation downtown), and there didn't seem to be a crazy amount of enthusiasm, myself included.
Granted, we were going DOOR TO DOOR once a week. Sharing the gospel with people cold turkey in the Iowa summer's balmy upper 80's at minimum. It felt like you were covered in warm cottage cheese as soon as you stepped outside. And I don't know if its anyone's favorite activity to go door to door sharing - heck, maybe you are way more spiritual than I - but it sure isn't my favorite.
Every week I wanted to make an excuse not to go, and I mean every. But I didn't want to be a bad example to others and the Spirit of God inside of me was basically saying, "Its good, just go." So go I did.
Since then we have gone through a myriad of troubles securing a building, getting said building up to city liking (took 6 months longer than we thought is all) and wondering if people were discouraged or just kinda rolling with things.
Another struggle came with planning. There are pastors in our church, naturally...being that its a church. But no specific pastors were coming along with this church plant so basically it was up to a monthly meeting with the pastors to really nail stuff down and plan. Which, when it comes to the nitty gritty, once a month doesn't really cut it. I felt disconnected from other community group leaders that were semi-in-charge like myself, and didn't really know what my role was.
One of the guys asked me to get together so we could do a little planning together, and the next week he invited another guy. That second guy, we'll call him Mike, cause that's his name, he voiced frustrations with basically all of the stuff I was thinking about: lack of clarity, people in the church may be getting frustrated, a lot of people feeling like they don't know what is going on.
So we talked to the pastors and got their permission to do some planning of our own. We've been getting together weekly ever since and discussing and planning, sharing our thoughts with the pastors and other leaders, and its been so much better.
"Get counsel or fail miserably" - Every proverb ever
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Pressure to Perform
I'm not sure why, but its so easy to feel a lot of pressure in life.
Pressure to be a good community group leader and not to fail people. The feeling that I don't have much integrity with who I am at church and who I am in private.
Pressure to be a good husband. To not grow slack in my love for my wife and to be a man in her eyes.
Pressure to be a good follower of Jesus. The standard is Jesus, which is perfection. I realize that the standard has been met for me, by Jesus, on the cross. But my weak human mind still thinks I have to attain some level of Christianity before God will approve of me.
Why is that? Why is it so difficult to believe you are forgiven, righteous, dearly loved?
Romans 8:1 says
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 6 is all about how our old man is dead and has been replaced by a righteous one.
And sometimes that means a lot to me. Other times I gloss over it and stop on verses that give a command and think, "I'll never be able to live that way," and "I sure am failing in that area".
The whole thing about Christianity is that we are forgiven isn't it? Does anyone else find the most basic principle often the hardest to believe?
Pressure to be a good community group leader and not to fail people. The feeling that I don't have much integrity with who I am at church and who I am in private.
Pressure to be a good husband. To not grow slack in my love for my wife and to be a man in her eyes.
Pressure to be a good follower of Jesus. The standard is Jesus, which is perfection. I realize that the standard has been met for me, by Jesus, on the cross. But my weak human mind still thinks I have to attain some level of Christianity before God will approve of me.
Why is that? Why is it so difficult to believe you are forgiven, righteous, dearly loved?
Romans 8:1 says
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 6 is all about how our old man is dead and has been replaced by a righteous one.
And sometimes that means a lot to me. Other times I gloss over it and stop on verses that give a command and think, "I'll never be able to live that way," and "I sure am failing in that area".
The whole thing about Christianity is that we are forgiven isn't it? Does anyone else find the most basic principle often the hardest to believe?
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
I'm Pregnant with Excitement
...and my wife is pregnant with our baby. She has 11 days until the due date.
So really..anytime now.
We are having a girl, and we are going to call her Emmylou (The bible names have already all been taken (by bible characters)).
I'm excited, and also nervous. You never know what kind of baby you are going to get. Fussy? Messy? Born with colic? One with the universe and at peace? I'm hoping for the latter but preparing myself for the worst.
I'm so thankful for my wife. She is unmatched in sweetness and kindness but I know she won't baby our baby to the point of spoiling her, like so much homemade yogurt. I want our girl to grow up knowing her parents love her and would do anything for her, but I also want her to thrive as an individual and learn what strengths and weaknesses she has. I want her to develop talents and be her own person. I don't want to give her everything she ever wants and have her think the world revolves around her, even though I'm sure I'll be tempted to think it does.
I'm sure the normal Christian thing to do would be to read a bunch of books by respected authors: "7 Ways Jesus WOULDN'T have raised his kids", and "3 Bible Bests for Wise Child", and lets not forget, "Disciple THIS! A Christians' Guide to Rebellious Teens".
My plan as of now is to read the bible, think through what I'm doing, get counsel from my wife and my pastors and my Christian friends with kids. Though if anyone else has any thoughts, or EVEN knows any good books worth the read, I'm all ears.
11 days (or less (or more)) and counting!
So really..anytime now.
We are having a girl, and we are going to call her Emmylou (The bible names have already all been taken (by bible characters)).
I'm excited, and also nervous. You never know what kind of baby you are going to get. Fussy? Messy? Born with colic? One with the universe and at peace? I'm hoping for the latter but preparing myself for the worst.
I'm so thankful for my wife. She is unmatched in sweetness and kindness but I know she won't baby our baby to the point of spoiling her, like so much homemade yogurt. I want our girl to grow up knowing her parents love her and would do anything for her, but I also want her to thrive as an individual and learn what strengths and weaknesses she has. I want her to develop talents and be her own person. I don't want to give her everything she ever wants and have her think the world revolves around her, even though I'm sure I'll be tempted to think it does.
I'm sure the normal Christian thing to do would be to read a bunch of books by respected authors: "7 Ways Jesus WOULDN'T have raised his kids", and "3 Bible Bests for Wise Child", and lets not forget, "Disciple THIS! A Christians' Guide to Rebellious Teens".
My plan as of now is to read the bible, think through what I'm doing, get counsel from my wife and my pastors and my Christian friends with kids. Though if anyone else has any thoughts, or EVEN knows any good books worth the read, I'm all ears.
11 days (or less (or more)) and counting!
Day to Day Life
It's hard as a believer to know how to spend your time. How involved in the church should I be? What does fellowship look like in my life? What about reaching out with the gospel? Does anyone, other than weirdos, even do that anymore?
How about my free time and hobbies? How much me-time is ok?
I obviously don't have the perfect life nor do I have the template that others should always follow. But to reference here was my schedule this year, being that I work until 6:45pm every night.
Monday night: Bible study from 7-9ish
Tuesday night: Hang out with a guy friend, Jesse. He is in my community group at church, we get together and talk about life and what we've been reading and how things are going in certain areas of our lives. He is the first guy I've ever discipled that has gone on to follow the Lord with everything he's got. He is super important to me and I care about him a lot.
Wednesday night: A guy that once was my best friend from 3rd grade to 12th got saved a few months back, its been the craziest thing ever. He is doing really well and we get together every Wednesday night and read through Ephesians as of right now. 7 - 9ish.
Thursday night: I either hang out with a new guy who started coming to church who I know from work or my other friend from high school David who recently started coming around and is doing super well, really loves the Lord and its evident in his life. 7-9ish
Friday night: 7-10 or 11 my community group hangs out. Usually we do something fun or just hang out at someone's house and play board/card games. Nothing "spiritual" is really accomplished other than obeying the commands and principals of spending time together, loving one another, doing meals together, serving one another, etc. We use it as a time also to invite new people who wouldn't necessarily come to a 'church' hangout.
Saturday: Off work! 8ish is when I usually wake up. (I know, I'm a slob) My wife and I make coffee and read and pray together like we do every morning. Then I usually work on graphic design like I usually do before work. Then if I haven't hung out with David I usually see him around lunch time. At 3 I hang out with 2 guys who are helping lead a church plant I'm involved with. We do some planning and then I hang around until church starts at 6pm.
Church goes till 7:30 or so then a lot of people will hang out afterward and play 4-square or play games and talk until about 10 or so.
Sunday: Off work again! The ol' Sabb'. I hang out with my wife Chrissy and we get all our chores done ASAP so we can pop a movie in around 7 or so and chill. Sometimes we play music together or go out to eat.
That's about it! More specific posts to come... but I think its important as a Christian to schedule out your free time and see when you are available to bless other believers. I do most of my outreach at work or when I'm running errands. Sometimes we do malls and door to door (which, believe you me, ain't my favorite), but mostly I work on relationships I already have with people. The rest of my free time goes to believers.
Colossions 1: 28-29 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
How about my free time and hobbies? How much me-time is ok?
I obviously don't have the perfect life nor do I have the template that others should always follow. But to reference here was my schedule this year, being that I work until 6:45pm every night.
Monday night: Bible study from 7-9ish
Tuesday night: Hang out with a guy friend, Jesse. He is in my community group at church, we get together and talk about life and what we've been reading and how things are going in certain areas of our lives. He is the first guy I've ever discipled that has gone on to follow the Lord with everything he's got. He is super important to me and I care about him a lot.
Wednesday night: A guy that once was my best friend from 3rd grade to 12th got saved a few months back, its been the craziest thing ever. He is doing really well and we get together every Wednesday night and read through Ephesians as of right now. 7 - 9ish.
Thursday night: I either hang out with a new guy who started coming to church who I know from work or my other friend from high school David who recently started coming around and is doing super well, really loves the Lord and its evident in his life. 7-9ish
Friday night: 7-10 or 11 my community group hangs out. Usually we do something fun or just hang out at someone's house and play board/card games. Nothing "spiritual" is really accomplished other than obeying the commands and principals of spending time together, loving one another, doing meals together, serving one another, etc. We use it as a time also to invite new people who wouldn't necessarily come to a 'church' hangout.
Saturday: Off work! 8ish is when I usually wake up. (I know, I'm a slob) My wife and I make coffee and read and pray together like we do every morning. Then I usually work on graphic design like I usually do before work. Then if I haven't hung out with David I usually see him around lunch time. At 3 I hang out with 2 guys who are helping lead a church plant I'm involved with. We do some planning and then I hang around until church starts at 6pm.
Church goes till 7:30 or so then a lot of people will hang out afterward and play 4-square or play games and talk until about 10 or so.
Sunday: Off work again! The ol' Sabb'. I hang out with my wife Chrissy and we get all our chores done ASAP so we can pop a movie in around 7 or so and chill. Sometimes we play music together or go out to eat.
That's about it! More specific posts to come... but I think its important as a Christian to schedule out your free time and see when you are available to bless other believers. I do most of my outreach at work or when I'm running errands. Sometimes we do malls and door to door (which, believe you me, ain't my favorite), but mostly I work on relationships I already have with people. The rest of my free time goes to believers.
Colossions 1: 28-29 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
First Post
I'm going to use this blog to put down my thoughts on the Christian life as understood by me understanding the New Testament. I just want to put my thoughts on good things when I have free time, that's basically the only reason I'm writing this. Everyone has free time and I don't want to use mine just browsing the internet mindlessly; combine that with the fact that I love to write but never do it (like a lot of people with passions that take effort), and you have yourself a blog.
The "normal" Christian life today to me is the thought that most people who claim the name of Christ in America live a life that doesn't exactly reflect the obedience that the bible talks about.
No one is perfect, I get that.
There are a lot of believers there who are light years ahead of me, I get that, and if not for them I would never mature, because it would be very difficult for me to believe that growth was possible.
The title isn't meant to communicate that I'm an awesome Christian and everyone else sucks, its just meant to catch the eye is all.
Disclaimer over. Hopefully I'll have time to post often.
The "normal" Christian life today to me is the thought that most people who claim the name of Christ in America live a life that doesn't exactly reflect the obedience that the bible talks about.
No one is perfect, I get that.
There are a lot of believers there who are light years ahead of me, I get that, and if not for them I would never mature, because it would be very difficult for me to believe that growth was possible.
The title isn't meant to communicate that I'm an awesome Christian and everyone else sucks, its just meant to catch the eye is all.
Disclaimer over. Hopefully I'll have time to post often.
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