Friday, April 29, 2005

Jesus Goes to Church pt 2

She woke up from a vivid dream.... it was so real.
Her heart was filled with joy.
"I can't miss Church today, even if it is not true!"

She jumped from bed and quickly began getting ready. She sang a hymn as she glided through her kitchen and grabbed some pop tarts for a quick breakfast.
The sun was shining bright as she made her way to her car. She looked at her watch and realized she was late. She would miss worship but be able to get there as they began to share about God. She could not wait! “Should I share about my dream?” She laughed out loud….

She pulled up to the parking lot and saw a bizarre sight. Someone had tied a donkey to the rails of the stairs!

She laughed again, thinking, “Maybe Jesus did come to church today!” Her heart jumped for joy!

She parked her car and could her quite a commotion inside.

“Who did he think he was anyway?”

“Maybe we should be more restrictive who we let in our church.”

“Can you believe how disruptive he was…. With our worship!”

She pushed the door open and quietly made her way in. She asked a little old lady whom this person was who came and caused such a stir.

“Some Jewish Hippie, probably and illegal liberal who is against the war and God and this country!”

The girl had to turn away from the spit from the old ladies mouth.

The girl asked where he had gone. The old lady said “Out the door!”

The Pastor saw her and beckoned her to come in… she was the newest person in his congregation. He was trying to get his numbers up.

The girl looked at him then back at the door…. She stepped towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Screamed the Pastor.

“I am leaving the Church!” she shouted as she pushed the doors open.
She saw a man walking down the rode, about one hundred feet away.

She stepped outside, and as the sun hit her face…

Joy filled her heart

And she followed Jesus from that day on.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

More thoughts on Growth (re edited)


open arms Posted by Hello
More thoughts on Growth

John 3:13. No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. 14. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15. That everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

How often we quote out of memory John 3: 16.... It is a great verse.... Yet, do we really catch what is being said here? Starting at verse 13: 13. No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. Do you realize NO ONE has ever been into Heaven.... Except Jesus.... That is why in Hebrews Chapter 4 it says:

14. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. 16. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Since Jesus has entered Heaven, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
When we profess our faith, God can begin His work.
I see it that when we are face to face with our sin, or our true self, the fact we need God, we must make a choice. consciously or not, to trust in Jesus or our own works. Vs. John 3: 13, reminds us that even though God gave the Law, the perfect way to please God,no one entered Heaven.

As one begins to grow as I stated in another blog posting, the most important thing is growth this ensures our salvation. When we grow we enter first in to the conversion area. We are moving from unbelief to belief. I believe that we are not fully saved unless we move from this step. I think many are seen as professing Christians, even attend church for years, yet, never fully believe.

1 John 2:19. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

They walked and talked and seemed to be saved. One of us, but never were.
They never were fully converted. Many denominations teach an instant salvation. I believe that can happen, but I see many who are taught that who do not ever grow. And though I will not judge a person.. I believe many are deceived to think they "said a prayer", "raised their hand", "went forward", even "received the gift of tongues" even "got baptized" (spiritually or by water)yet, never grow beyond that, may fall under the judgment of being goats and not lambs. (Matthew 25:32)

A side note here, I am not against any of these things, in fact I have received the gift of tongues. I confess I do not use it probably as often as I should.

The point of conversion can be in an instant or years... I believe this is were one begins to recognize one's free will needs to be given to God, in exchange for His will. One then lives the life of Christ, or abides in Christ and is now dead to self or one's free will. I fully recognize this is contrary to much teaching out there...
but I see it clearly in scripture. We die to self, or are dead to self, and our new life is Christ's eternal life lived through us. We are dead, buried, then resurrected spiritually to new life, later this will be a physical resurrection at the return of Christ Jesus. The struggle is not accepting this and being double minded. Once we accept this we are sealed and can have eternal security.

I will cover vs. 14 in another post. Suffice it to say, the poisonous snakes that were sent to kill (representing sin) once lifted up and looked at, became the Hebrew's salvation (they were healed). This deserves a whole teaching in and of itself. The Hebrews were healed and saved from death by those who believed God and let the snake bite them, then looked toward the snake on a pole to save them so the same as the two Adams, Adam, and Jesus. One fell and One redeemed. That is why the conversion step is so important. If one sits on the fence and does not fully commit and believe, one may be facing eternity on their own. Yet, to believe is to receive eternal life!

Vs.16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Imagine the love for us we are so unworthy, yet, because of God's love He deems us worthy, for believing in His Son! By believing we will not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus, gave us the Heavens! He opened the door for He is the door. We can go boldly into the Throne Room of God!

Another side note: I am not saying we have to have all our ducks in a row. Jesus meets us where we are. He responds to our faith. I think one can be saved, yet not believe in the trinity, virgin birth, or if Jonah was literally a person or a metaphor. God judges the heart, not our knowledge. God is patient, He will teach us by His Spirit what is Truth, if one is a seeker of Truth. Ask, Seek, Knock, and the Door will be open up to you Jesus is that Door!

Vs.17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

I am not in the habit of watching this program, I am not even really sure what it is called. I think is is called "Blind Date". One day I saw the previews and there was a Christian who was on it. I had to watch. Usually this show is full of provocative situations, I do not recommend this show at all. This Christian named Mark, went on a date and throughout the date, preached and witnessed to the woman. All well, yet, as he did his words were so judgmental. He told her, a divorced, working mother of two boys; that she was failure in her life and she was going to hell.

Though I agreed with his one statement towards the end of the show I disagreed with his attitude and approach. He said, Without Jesus, everyone is going to hell. Of course this woman was not happy with him, the saddest things was after he said all this to her, he stood up and kissed her forhead and walked out! He literally cast stones, with his words, then, kissed her off. I was not sure if I should laugh or cry!

Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it but , to save it, yet so many Christians are so quick to cast stones with our words. I have even heard of a local church in Billings who asked an unwed mother to leave, because she had sinned! This is no joke.

Jesus will come back and He will Judge so make sure you are growing!

Vs.18. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

Again, believe. For all of us without Christ stand already condemned.

Believing is not static it is an ongoing thing. We grow in our belief.
So, in closing..the challenge for all of us that profess belief is


GROW!

2 Cor 10:13. We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. 14. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15. Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, 16. so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in another man's territory. 17. But, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." 18. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Blessings,
iggy

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

The view of our driveway.... it has been melting all day!


The view of our driveway.... it has been melting all day! Posted by Hello

TES and Fischer made it back about midnight last night.
I had to wait for a plow to clear in front of the airport to park.
Funny how just the day before we had 80 degree weather!
The picture does was about 11 am this morning.... so a lot melted.

Blessings,
iggy

Monday, April 18, 2005

April showers bring spring flowers...what does spring snow bring?

Can you believe this?
It has been raining pretty hard for the last few hours.... we found a leak in one of the windows.... the one were the computer is.
Now......
it is snowing!

Big snowflakes.

What a welcome home for TES and Fischer.... from California to snowy Montana!

blessed,
iggy

Jesus Goes to Church pt.1

Jesus Went To Church

One day Jesus decided to go to Church. He was excited at what He would share and to hear the stories of His Father and how His Spirit had given new life.

Jesus was humble.

He looked in the mirror. No He was not a Brad Pit, yet He had that certain “something”
That God’s Only Begotten would have.
He oiled His hair so it would look nice and went to fetch His donkey.
The day was beautiful…. He thanked the Father for such a day. As He rode up to the church, people began to stare. “Who is that?” some said, “Where is He going to put that filthy beast?!!!” others said.

Though Jesus heard them he thought they must be having a bad day…. It is good they came to His Fathers house.

Jesus looked for a good seat…. He did not want to miss a thing. He sat close to the front. As He was looking around a little old lady poked Him with her cane and loudly said, “ You’re in my seat!!!!!. Move!”

Jesus smiled and graciously found another seat.

The people seemed all a buzz about Jesus coming to church. Jesus had much to tell them… He was so excited.

The preacher stepped up to the pulpit…and asked if any one had something to share or if they felt God wanted them to share with the church…. He was a progressive preacher…. Even a bit too modern for some in the church.

Jesus rose and stepped up to the microphone.

With eternal fire in His eyes He started to speak…..
But before He could, someone yelled “Why is he wearing a dress?”
Someone else shouted,” It’s not a dress, it’s a robe!.” Everyone laughed.
Jesus started again, “Blessed is…” only to be cut short by
“Is he a Mexican?”
Again someone much more learned shouted, “No, he looks like a Jew!”

The whole church shouted….”A JEW?!!!”

Jesus smiled and began again, "Blessed, is the"….

“He needs to get out of that robe and wash his hair! He smells of donkey and HIS SKIN IS TOO DARK! He needs to go to his own kind’s church!”

The preacher said, “Son, you better go. We don’t need any trouble here in church.”

Jesus looked at him and the smile left his face. He opened His mouth again, but the Preacher said, "Besides, you don’t seem to have much to say any way, so leave.”

Jesus walked to the door of the church….

Outside the sunshine hit His face…

And

Jesus wept.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Building an Idol in Our Image or Building the Perfect Christian

When I was younger, around 20 something, I was sitting through a sermon, which the teacher was preaching about progressive perfection of the saint.(Interpretation ~ as one grows closer to Jesus, one becomes more Christ like and sins less and progressively becomes more and more perfect until they sin no more). No really, this is taught in some churches... I believe John Wesley came up with this. Again, as the preacher taught I became distracted... I kept see something...now I don't know if it was a vision. But, it disturbed me greatly. What I saw was a statue... it was a man, holding a Bible glimmering like gold. He was beautiful, yet I was filled with dread. Then the thought came to me. "Have we forgotten Jesus? Have we created this Idol to the Perfect Christian?" I about jumped out of my seat.... not too uncommon in a Pentecostal church. The vision or what ever has haunted me ever since. How far have we gotten from Jesus? It is like in some churches they think, "Hey, we found Jesus, now let's get on with the real spiritual things."

How sad.

Now we have Mega Church meetings and programs that teach us how to be better Christians....Every time I think of this I think of the Scripture John 14:16 when Jesus tells the disciples of the comforter. We learn that this gift of the Person of the Holy Spirit will teach us and lead us. (John 14:25 - 26) We deceive ourselves if we think outside of Christ Jesus alone we have anything. We build Idols in our life all the time. This is really a God given drive... to drive us to Him. It is just being misapplied to something other than God. What is in the garden of our heart is what is important... by far I am not perfect.... not until Christ returns. We are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus.
(2 Peter 3:18)

To learn Who He is....

Now, don't get me wrong I am all for Christians learning how to be better Christians. But let us not fool ourselves. I have seen so many teachers that act like they have received the "secret" from God that will fix, grow, heal, and on and on. Your Church, Youth Group, small group will be bigger and better.
We are not saved by programs. It is as if we missed the point when Jesus said, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2: 27)

Let's not get caught up in the latest thing.... even Postmodern/Emerging can be an obstacle and not a door to Christ.

I am Postmodern because I live in this age... I did not choose that... nor does anyone. I am Emerging because I realized that, and see there is much work in catching up to the age we live in so we can reach the those who yet to have found Christ Jesus.

Blessed,
iggy

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Jesus the Action Figure


Jesus action figure Posted by Hello

I can see it now... Jesus has accessories.

Jesus Crucified for you accessories:
1 A Cross pre drilled holes (hammer and nails included)
2 Set of pre-nail-hole hands, for that better cross grip...feet also are available.
3 Hole in side with piercing spear (See Jesus Heart spill blood and water).
4 Crown of thorns with REAL fake blood of Christ.
5 Cat of nine for Roman guard figure....
6 removable flesh on chest and back.
7 anointing oil to prepare Jesus for burial
8. The tomb... (Like Barbie’s dream house but with less material things in it). Stone door ROLLS away!
9 Roman guards that transform into Angels!
10 the ascension... Rocket attachments where you can be GOD. You light the rocket and Jesus rises up to heaven...(Not recommended for children under the age of accountability)

Blessed,
iggy

Monday, April 11, 2005

Christianity is of the Devil!!!!

Christianity is of the Devil!!!!!


I am currently talking to an 84 year old man who believes this…. Yet he is a believer in Christ. I was at first taken aback when he said, “Christianity is of the Devil. You can’t be a 'Christian' and follow Christ".
First I want to say is that I don’t agree….
Yet I had to pause for a thought…..

This is what he is saying….even if he does not fully understand this.

Many claim to be Christian…. I would say most people in America, though fewer and fewer would, if asked, say, “I am a Christian.” Then they would say, “I am basically good, I mean I haven’t killed anyone or anything.”

I often think to myself, “If God’s standard is that we don’t kill someone, then you are doing great, but what kind of standard is that?” I mean…. I am “good” if I don’t kill.
Jesus said, “If you have anger in your heart against another person, you have committed murder in your heart.” !!!!!!!! (Rom 3:23, Matthew 5)

I have killed many on the freeway!

Yet, we do these things every day… kill, adultery, and on and on.

My 84-year-old friend was raised in a Christian home…. He went to church; he sang hymns he was baptized. Yet, he was taught to HATE “that Holy Roller Church” and it’s people.
Because they did not believe exactly as his parents and their church did.
(Mark 7)

He is a storyteller…. I don’t have space to share the stories. I will have to just say he is re-living his life and is writing a book about how God was reaching out to him and how he hardened his heart…. And surrendered to Satan.

He never missed church!
(Matthew 5:20)

I understand what he is really saying…. We can deceive ourselves and do all the time.
We need Jesus, not religion, not just doctrine, but JESUS.
Don’t get me wrong, we need to study doctrine and make sure we are on the right path.
Yet, if our doctrine is keeping people out or the Kingdom, then maybe we need to recheck our doctrine…. We may be making them twice as fit for HELL as our self. (Matthew 23: 25)



Jesus never came to start a Religion!
He came to bring us the Kingdom of God!
(Matthew 5:20)

I agree…. I am sure He never intended His Body, the Church, to be a religion…. I believe if He is the Head…. And We are His Body…. WE were meant to be a living organism that would reach out to the world, as the Father did…. When He sent His SON.
(Romans 12)


Christianity as a Religion is as good and EVIL as any Religion…. So we must make sure that we practice True Religion…. To care for widows and orphans and Fatherless children. (James 1)

Literally and metaphorically….
For without Jesus, we are ALL FATHERLESS CHILDREN!

Don’t let your religion get in the way of your faith in Christ… practice your faith and work out your great and wonderful salvation!

Blessings,
iggy

Thursday, April 07, 2005

This Kid is Amazing

This kid is amazing…
He attacks life with total abandon…
He wonders at the smallest things…
All things are new to him…

Wouldn’t it be great to have that again?

2 Corinthians 5: 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Blessings,
iggy





What Blue Eyes Posted by Hello

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

HOLY POOP!

There are some great thoughts on JP's Blog today. I tend to write some of my better stuff on other people's blogs. Today I decided to respond here.
I got baby fever. I have a one year old boy, Fischer and another little girl on the way. So.... as a father I had this thought....
When Jesus was a baby someone had to change His diapers....Right? He was a baby...So there was poop. I am not meaning to be blasphemous... God became a man. God, the creator of all things.... became a man. Just like one of us! Believe me I have met some "spiritual" people... Some good and some bad. But, this is the equalizer of all mankind... A trip to the toitee.
Jesus, was the example for us. He not only ministered to the lepers... but touched them. He then made them clean by His touch, so he remained clean Himself. Now, we are His Body... We are His hands and feet. We are to go and touch those that no one wants... The ones just like you and me.
Getting back to poop. Have you ever thought of the ministry of diaper changing... Not just at your church, but the actual job itself.To have a child so helpless that someone needs to care enough to clean up the filth the baby had created. I see God doing that to me everyday... Often without my even knowing it. That is His Grace. He reaches out to us and cleanse us from the poop we create in our life. I know I get tired of diaper duty. It seems to never end, but I will do it because I love my child. We are the children of God... How much more does He love us?

If you think this post stunk I apologize...
blessed,
iggy

Monday, April 04, 2005

What is on your clip board?

OK, I admit I rarely have an original thought. I actually am stealing this idea from Rick S.

What is on your clip board? You know when you cut and paste.... Go to comments and leave your last saved clip board.

Blessings,
iggy

Friday, April 01, 2005

Jack Chick expands his empire

When I was young I was drawn to Jack Chick... His art was pretty good as far as the comics offered by Christians of the day...
I later found him quite offensive as he was sure the Pope was the anti Christ and Catholics where heading to hell. His portrayal of the gay community seemed also a "little" overboard.
But this floored me...
You have to read the article to see what I mean!