Myth Busted: Trinity Revealed

MYTH BUSTED:

I don't know if you've ever heard the Bible talks about the Trinity (Father God, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit), but it never talks about them together. We take from here and there to know that there are the three parts using inductive reasoning. That the Bible never says all three parts in one time at one place together - NOT TRUE.

Matthew 28: 19 "... Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them inthe NAME of the FATHER and of the SON and of the HOLY SPIRIT, and teaching them..."

It's even Jesus who says it so it's legit. Not that the rest of the bible isn't legit, but people want to argue what others say and they've said, "show me where Jesus says it." He says all 3 in one place and he notes the fact that they're 3 in one because he says in the NAME not names; but name as in singular, of the Father - Son - Holy Spirit, and I checked like 10 translations, all "name."

That's not the only place. This might be the only place it's in the same sentence, but not together, look at when Jesus is baptized.

Mark 1:10-11 "As JESUS was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the SPIRIT desending on him like a dove. and a VOICE came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom i love; with you I am well pleased."

So it doesn't say GOD/FATHER directly, but here we have a picture of all 3 parts. All acting individually of each other, but in unison with each other.

"Heard His cry" and "saw how He died"

When the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God." - Mark 15:39

When he "heard his cry" and "saw how he died" he believed. This kinda just took me back. That this man was able to see who Jesus is, not by the way he lived, but by the way he died. Many people saw miracles and believed, many people heard prophesies and believed, many people heard his teachings and believed, many people were told about themselves and believed, but this man saw how he died and believed.

I think about me, and I know I'm not like Jesus, but I would much rather let someone see Jesus through miracles, prophesies, teaching, information than death. I mean to see the Holy Spirit at work and using my physical body and obedience to do a miracle so that they would see Jesus. That I could speak truth and prophesy over someone so that they could follow Jesus, know and believe. That a lesson he taught me could influence their life so that they would better know and believe. As the Holy Spirit reveals information or knowledge about the person so that they might know and believe that this is for real. I like all of those, to see the Holy Spirit show up and use me in a Superhero-ish way. I'm good with that. But Jesus was more than that. Not just by the way he lived, but by the way he died, he still brought people to God. (Note: I know we all know that his death brought us life, but I'm looking at the way he died.) We're called to die, but I wonder of how the manner that we do it, does it always point to God, to humility, to willing sacrifice, or do we often complain, question so much that we cause others to doubt, do we not "rejoice that we participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that [we] may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." (1 Peter 4:13). In what was are we broken that others may see God? I mean he died for us, but he also died in a way that even in death, in struggle, in pain, in his cries, people knew he was legit. I just wonder if the way I talk as I'm dying to self, my reactions, if they're humble or bitter, are they selfish or selfless. Do I get grouchy or loving? Do I love God more or question his sovereignty?

I don't think necessarily that he intentionally did or said these things, like we must not do it for show or intentionally do things a certain way, but I think just by the way he lived, and his closeness to God, his heart was so pure and so seeking that when he did die, when they were separated, when things changed, people couldn't help but notice. I want to live in a way that in how I live and how I die, my heart is longing and pure, and that those who see me, would see Him and believe. That is my prayer today, in life and in death, and in how I die, they might see You and believe.

Hatred of Sin

So tired of being in the way.
So tired of sin.
So tired of not being like You.
not being with You.

Your work in me is not yet done on this earth,
but I'm ready to be home and to be done with this battle.
To finally have victory over my human condition, sin.

I hate what I do, yet I can't stop.
I'll say I'm done, but before I know, I'm back here again.
I'm so not like you. I'm so not faithful.
I'm not good.
You live in me and bring anything good.
I live in me and I just bring destruction and rebellion.
I bring heartache. I bring what I hate.
Sin is living in me, like a virus that just won't die.
Epstein-Barr Virus.
It's always there. I can't get rid of it.
No matter how hard I try I can't get rid of the sin living in me.
I take certain measures to prevent flair-ups.
I sleep more, eat better, take vitamins,
Walk away, call people, time on my knees, time in Your word.
Yet, I do not take care. The virus flares. I'm overwhelmed.
I find myself in the midst of dealing with the symptoms again.

I seek Your face. Your blood on the cross.
How do you see me as sinless, when I stab you in the back daily.
You look on me and see Your son.
Your son. The Son you gave for me.
O, what happened on that cross that You should look on me this way.
I can't bare to talk to your Son, who had to look at my sin, then chose to die.
What can I say? What can I do?
How filthy am I that I could talk to Him? That I should talk to Him?
Anger. Rage. Malice, Deceit. Lust. I'm guilty of them all.
My dirty sins nearly match my pretty sins.
Pride. Better thinking of myself. Not doing. Not trusting. Looking down on.
Guilty on all charges.

So how is it that I could have this interaction with Your Son?
The name, I struggle to mention, in my guilty state.
The only name, only person who can free me. The only thing or act that can cleanse me.
To understand why you did this, I may never understand.
You've written Love, is the answer. But the love I know and show does not look like this.
Yet you say it is this Love. You speak to me when I can't even say your name.
I cry. I weep. I fall on my knees before you. Hating what I do.
You who should stand on your throne, away from me. Judging me justly.
You are right to do this. You are correct and good for your justice.
And. . . and you pick me up.
You hug me.
When I can't stand to be in your royal courts. I'm facedown in front of your throne.
You leave your throne. You come down to me. You pick me up.
Without saying a word, you wrap your arms around me and begin to cry.
You hold me tight and whisper, "Welcome home Son. I've missed you. I Love so much."
"I Love you more than you can imagine, more than you'll ever know."




How do I respond?
How can I follow the greatest love ever whispered in my ear?
I want to swear my allegiance here and now to never leave.
How ridiculous would it be to leave this place?
Yet, reality sets in and I know that I'll leave again.
I know my short memory. I know how easily I will forget this place.
I know this virus in me will flare and I will give. So short sighted.
I pray that I would have a long memory. I would remember this place.
Remember Your love. As I enter the battlefield I will never stop fighting.
Let this time, this Love, this heartache, this reuniting,
Let this be the desire of my heart and the fuel in the battle.
Let me always find myself here when I fail.
I pray that I don't, but when I do. Let me come back to this place of unworthiness.
To find myself in your courts. I won't ask for your Love, for it is something I cannot imagine.
I ask that you would find me here, on me knees, in surrender again.

Following Jesus = obeying

I think many people want to follow Jesus, learn of him, and see supernatural things happen,
but we just get snagged in the obeying part of following.
What does it look like to follow Jesus?
It looks like continual obedience,
In the big things and in the little things,
When it's easy and when it hurts,
When your surrounded and built up, and when your physically alone,
When nearly everything in your body is yearning for something else,
usually just a feeling of comfort, pleasure, control, or understanding,
but you still hear that small voice that says otherwise and you chose it instead,
When you reason it out based on what YOU know and it doesn't make since
but you step forward and do it anyway.
When logically you can think of lots of good reasons not to or why you should,
but you don't confine your actions to your human logic.
This is also obeying.

Following also means fully obeying, not just part of the way then stopping when it gets hard,
when you no longer know what to do or say, or allowing yourself to get distracted by something easier,
It means not being satisfied with just getting out of the boat but letting go,
it means taking the steps away from the boat, but specifically towards Jesus
It means not being happy with just being happy you shared your faith,
but having an actual conversation back and forth so that you can be like Christ,
and meet them where they are, love them where they are, and then let God change their life.

Partial obedience still ends in disobedience.
A book only 3/4 written doesn't give the ending wanted.
A conversation lacking the subject desired is pointless.
Skewing the detailed commands isn't fully obeying,
it isn't fully following, it isn't fully trusting.
Obeying in the little things will help you obey in the bigger things.
Obeying in the little things let's God use you in the great things.
How do you expect God to use you in great ways, or for you to witness amazing miracles if you don't want to obey to get there.
If David wasn't obedient in the fields with his sheep, he wouldn't have been prepared for Goliath.
If he wasn't obedient out in the caves and isolation, he wouldn't have been prepared for being King.
The fully obedience in times when it might not seem like much,
in the end, it proves vital.

Following means obeying.
Loving means obeying.
Greatest command is to Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (mark 12:30)
"If you love me, you will obey what I command." (John 14:15)
So to love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength can look like:
obeying God with all your minutes, with all of your thoughts, with all of your efforts, with all of your conversations, with all of your schoolwork, with all of your interactions with strangers/ friends/ cafeteria workers/ professors/ classmates/ family, and with all of your constraint towards evil/human desires.

Obedience doesn't always mean success,
at least not in the way we see it.
Sometimes our obedience leads to our failures,
which leads to opportunities of honesty, reality, humility, and showing where our strength comes from.
Obedience to the one who's right, does not mean you will always be.
It usually means you will be humble, you will be used, you will love more, you will speak truth, and you may have to apologize for previous actions.

Celebrate the victories of obedience.
-A week straight of reading the Bible.
-Admitting Yes, you are a Christian.
-Praying out loud.
-Walking away from the things you know you shouldn't.
-Being willing to share.
-Sharing what you believe.
-Standing up against the majority.
-Having a conversation about what you and they believe.
-Explaining and praying with someone to start a relationship with Jesus.
Celebrate the obedience you see in yourself and in others.
Encourage each other with this. Do not grow content with it, but celebrate and encourage each other.

Sharing Him

I realized today, again by my mistakes and some swapped texts with Tacy that:

When you share Jesus, usually you ask more questions than you talk, and you listen more than both.

(maybe you talk more, but we have a tendency to get nervous and try to get it all out and vomit over them, so keeping in mind to ask more questions will keep it a conversation rather than a preaching.)

"If you look at how many times Jesus asked questions... especially to his disciples (since we're suppose to make disciples and not converts). Questions though make people think rather than aimlessly listen." - Tacy. You can also find where the heart is and how to help it get to that next step closer to God rather than aimlessly scattering seed and hoping something you said sticks with them. "You can't meet them where they are until you know exactly where that is..." Good summation Tacy. Which is very true. Start the conversation, ask questions, listen, find where they are, then journey along side them in a conversational manner rather than vomiting your religion on them.

Prodigal-breakdown

When Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal Son:
He uses 1-2 verse(s) describing the sin
3 verses to describe the consequences
4 verses on the sons process of coming back and then asking for forgiveness
6 verses of the Father's response
3 verses about the older son figuring it out
3 verses of the older son complaining

Jesus starts out the parable directly with what happened. He cuts out all of the unnecessary stuff and gets directly to the root of the problem the sin. Shows that it is the problem, and it is the first thing that needs to be dealt with.

Then we see 3 verses used to describe the consequences. Most of the time, the consequences for our sin last much longer than the act of the sin. We want them to be coinciding. Doesn't work that way. David slept with Bathsheba (we'll say a couple of hours from when he saw her and lusted to when they had sex) but then dealt with the consequences for the next couple of months/years. The Israelites didn't listen to God about the promise land and refused to listen (I'll give them a week of deciding to be generous) and their consequence was 40 years of wandering around.

Jesus uses 4 verses to describe the process back to his senses and seeking forgiveness. I think he uses this with the second most amount of verses to describe any event, is because he wants the focus of the story to be on this fact the most. To emphasize more than the Son turned from his ways and sought forgiveness more than the sin. Yes, he knows we're going to sin and it has to be dealt with. But wallowing in sin, is not what he wants. He wants you to come to Him and seek forgiveness. Many times I want to wallow in it. I don't feel like I can go to God because I'm so dirty and I've just screwed up so bad. But is that really God's voice? God gave all he had to have a pure relationship with me and you. Why would he want you to sit in your filth? Its then as soon as that relationship is off, he wants you to come and restore it by asking for forgiveness. So 4 verses showing the importance of your action you need to focus on is coming to forgiveness.

I love this part. He uses 6 verses to show the Father's response. He starts it out with the old Father, at the expense of disgracing himself, running to his prostituted son and throwing his arms around him. He ends with "He was lost and now is found." What I love about this is so many things. But the most verses he uses to describe any part of this story is on the Father's response. It's all about the Father's unconditional Love for the son. How he Loves him in-spite of what he does, not because of it. How really our salvation is focused solely on what God did, and not on what we did. Yes we need to seek forgiveness, but without God doing all of the work, then there would be nothing to seek. Such a beautiful section. He leaves his place, runs to him, loves him, welcomes him home, then has a party for him. He ends by sharing it with everyone that his SON IS HOME! It's all about the Father's love and what He's done. Whew.

The next 3 verses are the son finding out. People rejoicing and telling about the younger son coming home. Solid that he focuses on telling people. That the celebration is not confined to just those who saw it but is welcomed to all members of the family to celebrate. It's like sharing our story or testimony when you get saved, or hearing someone else share theirs. You hear/know about them being away from home, then you hear they come back and they're saved, loved by the father.

Then 3 verses focusing on the older brothers self-centeredness. I used to think he had a right to be mad. He had been working his butt off and now this other one comes home and gets "so much more" than he does. I realized thats what I thought, and how selfish I was being. It's like someone else gets saved, someone else knows God and choses to follow Jesus and we celebrate with them. We celebrate with all of Heaven at this. We get excited. It's like if during this celebration I threw a hissy fit because I've been trying to love and serve Jesus for years now but no one ever gets this excited for me. Yeah, self-centered. Selfish. Instead of rejoicing for someone who was going to Hell who now isn't, someone under the grasp of Satan who is now free, someone who had no idea what love is and now does. Instead of celebrating, he focuses on what he's done, when Jesus just made it clear that it's about the Father and not the son's efforts. The father does say he'll be rewarded for his hard work, but yeah whatever look at the bigger picture here. He's safe and home. Kind of reminds me of how we're Ok with salvation for us. We're ok when others are saved, but when there's someone that has really hurt us, someone who has hurt one of our friends, our family, someone we love. Then we get, at-least I, get selfish. Who am I to withhold grace from someone. "But if you knew what they did" I argue. Then the Father reminds me, "But I knew what you did, and I forgave and loved you through it." My selfishness and withholding got more attention than the original sin.

I know this way of digesting scripture doesn't always work about the most important stuff is talked about the longest. It's just something that God showed me for this story that I thought was very interesting, and humbling. Today, God showed me how I've been both sons, and have been a jerk to the father both times. It was rough, but very good.

When God Ran Video

Rest.

I just spent an hour resting in His presence.

I'm tired and worn out. I woke up, kept going back to sleep.

I got uphalf an our after my alarm was planned for. It wasn't quite 7 hours of sleep.

lights on, door opened. I laid back down prostrate on my bed and just started praying.

I prayed for my day. I prayed for Carly in Haiti. I prayed for the band. I prayed for whatever came up.

I felt like a refrigerator. Always trying to make things colder and colder.

Like a perfectionist trying to make things better.

Never can stop, just always trying to make it more like we want.

Always striving, but never cold enough, good enough.

But I'm out. Exhausted.

I fell facedown.

Gave in. I quit trying.

My list of important things get's pushed back.

Quiet time. Shower. Work on website. Edit Pictures. Talk to people. Go paint. Write paper. . .

All fell to the ground, as I fell on my face and just rested in his presence.

Let it all go, and found his strength at rest.

His strength is not just for moving, but also for resting.

Don't forget that the God of the Universe, who has been around long before you,

doesn't need you to get what He wants done.

Leave a refrigerator alone for the day, come back. The food is still cold.

It's the power in the fridge that keeps it cold, not it's concentrated focused effort in it.

Sometimes surrendering your plans for the day means going back to bed and resting in His strength.

His strength. His Timing. His Control. His sovereignty.

I forget that God cares more about me than he does my ministry.

He cares more about me than he does what I can do for him.

"For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his." - Hebrews 4:10

We should rest like Isaiah stated: (40:31)

"but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

I've heard it so many times. But I saw it visually today and what sticks out to me is that we will "soar on wings like eagles" I thought, "Oh, yeah. Eagles are this giant majestic bird, looks good. Strong powerful. I see." But when I saw it I realized that when an eagle soars, he's not flapping his wings frantically to stay a flight. He pumps them a few times, then soars. Soar. They gliding. So much power and muscle under control, designed aerodynamically to powerhouse through the air with grace and simplicity. To rest in his presence grew a new meaning this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3lXU1KBgjE&feature=related

Falling In-Love with Grace

Amber told a story last week at the leadership meeting about how her gang was on the way to church and stopped a woman fix her car in the pouring rain. Not like stopped and fixed it, but stopped, took out the old battery, took it to the store, got a new one, took it back and installed it. Got her groceries cause she couldn't pay for it and helped her out. That's the Church, not the building everyone kept trying to get to as they passed the broken down woman on the way. So later that night on our way to Blacksburg to get painting supplies, we stopped at a gas station and a homeless-looking man asks if we're going towards whatever town. Turns out it's on our way. Sure. We'll give you a ride, and I'm sharing Jesus with you along the way. So we did and he had issues with the free grace part. Kept saying if you do enough good and be a good person. Then God explained it to me and him as this, "there's nothing that you did to deserve this ride that I'm giving you. This is a free gift from me to you. That's what Christ did for you. Not when you deserved it, but it's a free gift to you." He still didn't' get it but it stuck with me.

Fast forward to Sunday night, last night, I talked to Pradip Sunday night and he talked about how he had two tests coming up this week "Animals" and "Organic." He didn't have the Animals book because it was too expensive and couldn't afford it and didn't have notes. I tried to think of someone who might be in the class who could let them borrow it. No luck.

Leadership meeting today (Monday afternoon), we talked about how to share Jesus with those around us. Most of them, based from our conversations with non-believers, know it intellectually but there's something missing in-between the heart and the brain. We need to make God tangible. How do we do that? Reading in Col. 1:15 this morning it says that Christ is the image of the invisible God. So to make God tangible, he sent Jesus. Jesus did what he was suppose to and has left. Now, we as Christian's being "Christ-like" need to act like it. We need to share what Jesus is and how he is through relationships. Through stories of how it is. How do we do that, we look at Jesus. We gaze at him. Study his every move and word and imitate it.

After dinner, I went to give Kayla her book and she's been having a really rough couple of days. I was wooped and just wanted to go but I remembered the prayer requests of pray of how we can encourage each other. Sometimes encouraging is just listening. So I listened and let Kayla explain everything that had gone wrong. I was trying to help and show her that I cared. Somehow in the process she mentioned all the books she's kept. "Wait, do you still have animals?" "Yeah." "Could I borrow it? or know someone who could borrow it?" I explained it to her and told her he'd take good care of it and she let me borrow it.

As I waited for her to get the book, I was thinking what can I tell him to share Jesus with him. Then God just like explained it all at once. Its grace. It's a free gift. Acts of service is what I love to do. Why? Because it's Grace. It's doing something for someone with nothing expected in return or not because they deserved it, but actually because they didn't deserve it. Grace. It's also one of the hardest things I have to deal with is the fact that I'm not deserving and can't deserve it but he still gives it to me anyways. Why I struggle with people doing stuff for me or helping me. It's grace.

Then I went to give it to him and tried to give it to him and he kept saying

"No. No."

I said, "Why not? It's grace."

"What?"

"Grace."

"It's what?"

"It's grace. What Jesus was talking about when he said grace. It's a free gift that you didn't really earn or deserve, but it's a free gift from me to you because I love you."

"No. No I can't."(most people can't accept it's free)

"Why not? It's free, it's for you."

"But it's so expensive."(amen.)

"Yeah but it's taken care of. It's yours free."

"Do I have to pay for it? Make payments?"

"No. It's completely free. It's yours free."

"Oh this helps so much. Thank you so much. Oh, thank you."

He was so thankful. So excited. He said "Thank you so much Abram." and I just said, "Consider it from Jesus." He was so thankful. Something that was too expensive for him, that was given just when it was needed (test in two days), that was given free to him that someone else has already paid for.

I'm so excited to share with him Ephesians 2:8-9 when God opens that door. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.." Because this is the perfect example of when we couldn't afford what we owed (wages of sin is death) that someone else paid for it (Jesus dying on the cross) , so that we could accept it for free. We can't earn it. We can't make payments on it. It's already been payed for and is given freely because of Love for the person.

I'm so excited and so in love with Grace. How God continues to move in my weakest moments is amazing. I feel like Paul or one of the first apostles. I didn't pay for the book, but I do know who did personally. I got to go and give the gift to the person. To see the excitement on his face, when he realized what he had been given. I understand why they kept on doing it. It's beautiful to get to be part of the most epic, beautifully constructed stories ever lived on earth. Tonight, I got to live a small-scale, faint resemblance of that it and it changed me, is changing me.

God I pray that Pradip would learn grace. I pray that he would not understand and then question it. I pray that he would search for it and that you would lead him to the right people or sites that explain what grace really is. I pray that you would open a door to the conversation with him that I can share your salvation. Your love. Your GRACE. God work in his mind tearing down these false truths that have been there. Show him light, true light. God use me. Shine through this stained and dirty vessel. God you have made me clean and I wish to shine for you. Shine through me. God I know your powerful. I see you working more mightily than ever. I see how you work when I am faithful and patient. I see how you do the work and I get to be an example of you. I am simply the messenger. God, how good you are. That you would chose to use me. I am so amazed. I pray that this book. This act of kindness will change his mind, his heart, his life forever. That he would note this as the first of many acts of Grace that you will show him. God please show him through me. Use me to show him. Not just me but other, real Christians. God I pray that you would rock his world with Grace. That this concept, this understanding, would destroy all idols built up against you. Like accelerated termites eating on a totem-pole, you grace would attack and destroy these idols. God bring Eph. 2:89 to the forefront of his mind, of the mind of everyone he comes in contact with. God please send your Holy Spirit on him to lavish him with grace and his understanding of Grace. Make it more personal, more heartfelt, more real. Let him experience it, taste it, yearn for it, hunger for it. God use us to show and speak truth into his life. Let us be who you are here. God let us make you tangible here.

Waiting for that leap of Faith

While we wait to take the leap of faith behind our hero,
let us not forget we are still in the presence of our King, able to rest in his warm embrace.

FROM URBANA (while eagerly awaiting his future plans that I'm in):

I'm standing on the edge of the cliff ready to jump.
It's almost time to jump,
I hate this waiting time.
Time is so imminent yet so far away.
Standing in the ready position to run forth and take the leap,
but I grow tired and my muscles weak from the strain.

I do not know the height of this ledge
only that a leap of faith is required.
Whether it is a few feet to a few miles,
I wish to jump boldly.
I know my King will come through,
my rescue will capture me.
That life is not living until you leave the ledge.

Too much faith you've given me,
and too much blood you're given for me.
Too much pain you've endured
for me to turn and walk selfishly-cowardly
back down the inclined path.

So I wait to leave the edge,
I will not rush, I will not watch the clock.
I will trust my King, trust my guide.
I will wait with Him, trust in Him.
I will enjoy my time in his presence, feel his heart,
know His face, enjoy his embrace,
Long before, a time to leave the edge
I will not let go of him, just my timing.

Ask me anything but to stop.

If you ask me to run, I"d give you a marathon
If you ask me to lift, I'd look like Arnold
If you ask me to go, I'll be at the airport in an hour
If you ask me to sing, my vocal chords will vibrate for you
If you ask me to dance,, my shoes will swing.
If you ask me to move on my deathbed, I'll force myself to my feet.

But if you ask me to wait, I sit restless
If you ask me to listen, ideas flood my head of what to say
If you ask me to let go, my hands get sticky
If you ask me to back away, I
If you ask me to be ok without, "what if's" become more possible.
If you ask me to just rest in your arms, my "to - do" list grows with a sense of urgency
If you ask me to stop, MY reasoning makes so much more sense.

If you ask me to live for you, I'll go tell the world.
If you ask me to die to myself, my life gains more value.
If you ask me to trust and leap, my feet will be in the air.
If you ask me to trust and wait, I'm at my blocks, tense, and waiting.

I grasp your strength like Sampson and David,
But I lack the patience and trust of Abraham and Noah.
Obeying is easy when I can go and do.
It's impossible when it's not to go and wait to do.