Children's Church

I will be leading Children's Church this Sunday and I am quite excited. I was going through Judges (one of my most favorite books) and read the story of my favorite judge, Ehud. After that I sent my pastor an email telling him that if there was a day that they needed a sub for Children's church, I would be happy to fill in and teach the children this wonderful story. He was excited and then they asked me if I could do it this Sunday... OK! Hannah will be visiting her mother's church so I will not have anything to worry about (small, high-maintenance children!) except my lesson.

In NTM Boot Camp, we had a guest speaker one night who spoke on the book of Judges. He went briefly through all the judges in the entire book and at the end explained how God is all-powerful, and just as he gave the judges in Israel exactly what they needed to accomplish His will for them, He will give us today all that we need to accomplish His will for our lives. That lesson stuck deep in me and since then I have always enjoyed that book.

But as for application, I am not sure yet where I will go. I am trying to decide between:

1) Explaining that just as God gave the judges exactly what they needed to accomplish His will for them, He will give you all that you need to accomplish what He wants you to do.

or

2) Present Ehud as a temporary deliverer (a miniature Christ), and then go right into the gospel and explain how Jesus is our eternal deliverer.

I am leaning toward the second option.

I am very excited. Now I must end this and continue work on my props :-).

Random

I was looking through my email at work and came across some numbers that interested me.

First email sent: 10/19/05
Total emails sent: 3748

I started work at Walkers in June of 2005. I was initially at the Warehouse, but in August I was moved to the Shop. Once in the Shop, I worked in Electronics until October. In October I began working primarily with inventory and was assigned a computer to use. I can assume that the first day I used my computer was October 19, 2005. So I have been working at this computer for over four years. I have been working at Walkers for longer than I was in High School. I have worked at Walkers only six months longer than I have been married. In June, I will have worked here for five years. In the four years that we have been married

-Hannah and I have lived in two different apartments, and with her mother.
-We have driven from PA to Texas and back
-We have driven down to Florida and back multiple times
-We have flown down to Florida twice and flown back once.

Totally random, but it was what was currently in my head.

Thoughts on Mark 1

I have been reading through the gospel of Matthew and have really enjoyed myself. But I finished it yesterday and was quite disappointed. It is so majestic and is written in the same way as the wonderful books of the Old Testament. I would go so far to say that it should be the 67th book of the Old Testament. But after finishing it, I was disappointed to have to move into simple little Mark. But, I put my biases aside and in faith began Mark this morning to see what the Spirit would teach me through it.

Now after having read the first chapter in Mark for the first time in a long while, I have to say that my initial attitude toward the book was ABSOLUTELY WRONG! While Matthew is deep and somewhat dark at times, Mark is refreshingly simple. Matthew was written to the Jews and it is all about the future kingdom of Israel, but Mark is about the gospel for me! Right from the start, Mark sets the stage. Rather than presenting Jesus going around explaining OT prophesy, it starts withe Jesus "proclaiming the gospel of God." This is the gospel for gentiles! It is quite simply about Jesus and what he did for us.

Simple and beautiful.

I also love the wilderness imagery. John was the imperfect crier in the wilderness, Jesus became the perfect crier in the wilderness of the world, and now in the power of the Holy Spirit we are left as criers in this wilderness of a fallen world.

I'm very excited to read the rest of the book... it's been far too long :-).

Our Rights With God?

Quote from John Piper, "The Called of Christ and the Loved of God: Part 1" May 17, 1998.

"I assert, that human beings as they presently exist have absolutely no rights with God. None! Zero! We have no rights over or against God. We have no right to claim anything from God. Nothing! Therefore, all condemnation from God is just and all salvation from God is gracious. And nobody can raise any complain whatsoever."

That is ever so true.

The Bread of Life

Jesus... oh sweet and beautiful Savior! I have been watching "The Gospel of John" and pondering the truth of God's Word. It is quite intense. Jesus fed the five thousand and all the people got so excited! The became obsessed with Jesus! They loved Him! What could be better than a king that could make food appear basically out of thin air! They followed him and asked Him time and time again about food and He obliged them and said, "I am the Bread of life!" Then He told them that to be saved, they would have to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Then what happened??? They got angry! What!?!? We saw You make real bread, we can't possibly eat You! Then many quickly lost interest in Him. Jesus was of course talking spiritually, but they had not the faith to accept His words. He could have laid it out and explained it away in the most clear and persuasive ways possible, but He purposely did not. Jesus was interested in their hearts! He wanted their faith! If He had spoken straightforwardly, He certainly would have been followed by larger crowds and who knows what else might have happened, BUT HE DID NOT WANT IT THAT WAY!!! As the Old Testament prophets warned the Israelites, GOD DOES NOT WANT YOU TO LOOK RIGHT, HE WANTS YOUR HEARTS TO BE RIGHT! Time and time again the Israelites heard the law and vowed to uphold it and then regularly visited the temple and did the things of the law to the best of their ability. But they were not doing it in faith! They were just following a list of rules! If their hearts had been rights, their allegiances would not have blown back and forth and over and over and time and time again! Jesus did not care if He only had a handful with Him, because he wanted those whose hearts were right (of course making an exception for Judas, but Jesus knew this and allowed Him to continue anyway).

THE HEART, THE HEART, THE HEART!!! In the Old Testament, God wanted hearts. In the New Testament, God wanted hearts. Today, Jesus wants hearts. Don't focus on the bread, on the earthly things. Look in faith on Jesus, our glorious Lord and Savior! All praise be to Him!

Psalm 128:1-4 (ESV)

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways!

You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;

Your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.

Memorization on the Cross

I am currently working through these.

Romans 6:6-7
Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Philippians 2:8
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Colossians 1:20
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.