1 Corinthians 3:1-15... with a twist

http://www.agnusday.org/comics/13/1-corinthians-123-13

1 Corinthians 3

1-4But for right now, friends, I'm completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You're acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I'll nurse you since you don't seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything's going your way? When one of you says, "I'm on Luther's side," and another says, "I'm for Calvin," aren't you being totally infantile?

5-9Who do you think John MacArthur is, anyway? Or Brian McLaren, for that matter? Servants, both of them—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. Augustine planted the seed, Rob Bell watered the plants, but God made you grow. It's not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God's field in which we are working.

9-15Or, to put it another way, you are God's house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, Calvin designed blueprints; Brian McLaren is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. (A twist on The Message)

Romans 1:18-23

 ^18-23But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand. (Romans 1:18-23, The Message)

The countdown to... Gastric Bypass Surgery

I have struggled with my health for quite a while now. I was officially diagnosed with diabetes about 12 years ago and have never been able to get a real handle on it. I have tried different doctors who will try this or that... believe me I have heard them say, "This will probably give you good results." and find it does for about three months and then whatever it is stops.

I have had neuropathy, major back pain (often accentuated by the medications), and other complications attributed to diabetes. In the end, nothing seems to help and the pain in my back seems not to allow me to exercise enough to make a real difference.

The bottom line is this. As I have studied out new possibilities to aid me in my fight against my diabetes (that seems to be winning), I kept reading about how gastric bypass has help many diabetics. Part of the issue with my diabetes is I am insulin resistant. In fact, I take dosages that would even kill most diabetics and still cannot get it under control. Therefore I get in these cycles of taking high insulin to get my blood sugar down, which then triggers my hunger (insulin triggers the hunger). Therefore, I eat, and get high blood sugar and, wash, rinse and repeat. The result is I have gone from a svelte 217 pounds to 320 and miserable to boot!

The thing is, in my reading I found that what happens is that when one has gastric bypass, the body goes into shock (it should it major surgery) and then recalibrates itself and often diabetics can get off insulin. Personally, I would be happy with a major reduction in my dosage, as I do not expect to get totally off insulin. I do hope that since I am restricted in the amount I can eat, that it will aid in keep me from falling into the cycle I keep getting in and help reduce the weight I have gained.

This Friday is the day I start my liquid fast before the surgery. I am a bit scared in doing this, yet I see this as the way to regain my health and just maybe, live longer. I just ask for prayer in all this. The consultation with the surgeon is on March 3rd and the surgery is on March 8th.

Believe me I know all the horror stories… so please don’t post them here unless they are about you and your personal surgery. I do not want second hand horror stories. I also know many successes. If you had the surgery, feel free to tell your story or link to your blog.

Again, this is about my health… not about vanity. I mean, I am already damn good looking. = )

"Stay tuned" you prisoners of polluted politics

On Friday 19th February 2010, @lissnup said:

reply #IranElection "Stay tuned" you prisoners of polluted politics as you queue for the toilet, buttocks clenched tight against your blood-flecked diarrhea, against being taken away, against the baton, not knowing which might come for you.

Help is coming. Someone will write a very long letter, very soon. If you're really lucky they might remember to mention your plight and that of thousands of others like you.

What's that? No one knows where you are? They told you your family, you friends are all dead and you're next? Just stay tuned anyway. I'm sure some important people will be having tea together again soon. Very soon.

 

http://tl.gd/ab3fq

 
 

Please consider helping

Please consider this opportunity this summer to help out at Afayo Uganda Foundation. If you are interested let me know and I will connect you to Ivan to work out the details. Also, there is a donation button on this site (the second one). If you donate, please send me a note so I can keep track of where the money came from.

Hello Carlos,

Praise Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God. Hope all is well with you. I know it has been sometime without hearing from us but its all because of the turbulence we have been going through as a ministry.

I am of the request, that if it would be possible, we would organize a fundraiser for the tuition of the children. We need US$ 1151 towards this alone.

Secondly, we need some volunteers or missionaries who would be willing to serve with us for sometime maybe this summer or earlier. They should be willing to serve with the administration as well as in the village. Whenever you have or can find someone who is willing or wishing to come over to Africa to serve with us; that will be awesome.

Concerning the website, it’s in its final stages of designing and we will need to raise some funds for the hosting which is about US$95.

As soon as we realize this, the website will be up in just the next 24 hours.

We still don’t have power and internet at the office. So whenever i get time to write to you, I do so.

Hope to hear from you soon.

God bless you so much.

Ivan

What if you become what you believe?

What if your ideas and belief in God, makes you ultimately like that God? What if, you become what you believe? What if your belief is in an angry God who only is concerned with justice, instead of a God of compassion who is willing to forgive yet still will give justice to those who do not choose to live in that forgiveness and find new life?

Will their view and belief in God as angry not reflect in how they treat others? God is love. Love knows not fear. Fear has to do with punishment, yet if one believes that God will punish them, are not be perfected in love. Instead of loving their enemies, they seek vengeance. They even justify that somehow they battle against flesh and blood though the bible is clear that is not where our battle lies.

However, what if the ultimate vengeance is forgiving your enemies, and forcing them to choose to let your forgiveness become their reality, which takes humility and the other choice is to reject your forgiveness and letting their pride become their shame and end?

I am emerging because...

Bruce Reyes Chow sent out this challenge on Twitter: ""I am emergence" post coming today. Want in? In 140 WORDS or less, blog/FB about it WITHOUT defining by what you are NOT and I'll link back."

I am emerging because:

I love God, through Jesus Christ.

I affirm that Jesus was birth through the Virgin Mary, lived life as a human being, died on the Cross, to take away all humankind’s sin, was buried for three days and rose again on the third.

Jesus ascended and entered the Heavenly realm.

Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God that was, and is.

Jesus is the first-fruit of the bodily resurrection and the New Creation that is, and is to come.

Jesus demolished all walls that divide humankind and there is no longer male/female, slave/free, Jew/Gentile, or us/them.

We are to love all people with the unconditional love of God.

We are to question the status quo as Jesus did and to seek justice.

emerging is the eternal conversation started with God at the beginning of creation and continues today in believers.

Norman Geisler: Why I am not a 5 point Calvinist parts 8 - 9

http://www.youtube.com/user/AMomentOfTruth123

Norman Giesler: Why I am not a 5 Point Calvinist parts 5 - 7

http://www.youtube.com/user/AMomentOfTruth123

Norman Geisler: Why I am not a 5 Point Calvinist parts 3 - 4

http://www.youtube.com/user/AMomentOfTruth123

Norman Geisler: Why I am not a 5 point Calvinist parts 1 and 2

http://www.youtube.com/user/AMomentOfTruth123

Repost: Some Advise for Handling Critics

Some Advise for Handling Critics.






1. Rejoice! Mat 5: 11. "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13. "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

2. Give no answer (I am working on this one) Mark 14: 56. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. 57. Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 58. "We heard him say, `I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.'" 59. Yet even then their testimony did not agree. 60. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" 61. But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"

3. Let Christ’s light shine through. Acts 6:13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us." 15. All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

4. Keep Serving the Lord and let the false accusers come to their own end. For God is faithful. 2 Cor 11: 12. And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

5. Live in the freedom of Christ and do not give in to the false accuser. Gal 2: 4. [This matter arose] because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. 6. As for those who seemed to be important--whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance--those men added nothing to my message.

6. Do not give into the meaningless chatter of your accusers. Leave them in their falsehood.1 Tim 6:20. Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21.which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you.

7. My final advice is this Forgive and pray for your enemies… and love them. Matt 5: 43. "You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45. that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

This site also has some good ideas on conflict resolution.

Blessings,

iggy

A Sermon for Discernment Folks... and for the rest of us also.

Conflict Resolution from Northland Church on Vimeo.

Thanks to Brian McLaren for pointing this out on his blog.

One degree of seperation

I was thinking that there is only one degree of separation between a Calvinist and a Christian Universalist... and that is limited atonement. However both miss that we are not saved by the Cross but by the Resurrection. We are not saved by Jesus' death, but by His Life imparted to us. If you equate forgiveness and salvation, you end up with error... and that is the error of both CU and Calvinists.

Calvin equated forgiveness and salvation, and in that saw the logical step of Universalism... yet could not accept Universalism so created Limited Atonement. Yet, if one understand that forgiveness was only part of the salvic equation, and that though one is forgiven, without the Life of Christ they are still dead. For the Life is in the Son. The living risen Son.

Matisyahu - King Without A Crown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsFpUW48Tnc




- Matisyahu Lyrics

Read more: http://www.metrolyrics.com/scroller_wide.php?lyricid=2147429140#ixzz0eVez0gX8

Pete Rollins – Resurrection as Insurrection

Not that I agree or disagree... but it is truly thought provoking.

What we believe emanates from who we are. And who we are is not about dogma, or even about moral behavior, but about dying to ourselves. This is part of the conversation between ThinkFwd host, Spencer Burke, and Pete Rollins, author of How Not to Speak of God and The Orthodox Heretic. They explore the ideas of truth and God, of resurrection and insurrection.

Truth, says Rollins, is not one extreme or the other; it’s not the middle of the extremes. Truth is at both extremes. While traditional Christians say, “God is present. God exists, and Christianity is true;” atheists say “God isn’t there and Christianity isn’t true.” These two extremes push Rollins to explore a 3rd position and he likens it to the story of Jesus on the cross, when He felt forsaken by God– God not present–and yet God was completely present. And so the 3rd position dwells in the very place in between. Rollins says Christians are called to dwell not on one side of the other, but in the very split that Christ opens up: between old and new; between Judaism and Christianity.

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