Important Truth

While I was doing my Bible study, something really stood out to me that the author said,
"Sanctification, the process of gradually becoming more and more like Christ as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit's work in us, is indeed a lifelong process, but each specific area of 'the flesh' in our lives need not remain an issue for our entire lives."

So, the process of becoming more Christ like is a life long journey ( ..."that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus").

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that each area of struggle in our lives, has to be a life long issue.

Whether it's overeating, lying, gossiping, drug addiction, fear or some other stronghold that we are struggling with, complete freedom is possible.

When we accept our new identity in Christ, and come in agreement with God that He has imparted us with self-control, we can experience freedom over specific areas of the flesh.

What good news!😊

Bridgeway

After attending the last Covenant Membership class this morning, I am now officially a member of Bridgeway Church! I am very excited to be a part of a church that is completely centered on the Word of God.

One of our members died last week, so Pastor Storms felt God calling him to preach out of 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, instead of Revelation.

The title of the sermon was, "What Happens When a Christian Dies?"

The only section of the sermon I'm going to blog about is, "The Judgement Seat of Christ."

2 Corinthians 5:10 says, "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done, whether good or bad."

This judgement is not designed to determine entrance into the kingdom of God but reward or status or authority within it.

The differing nature and degree of reward will be manifest in the depths of knowledge and enjoyment of God that each person experiences. Some may balk at this notion, but they shouldn't. Here's why:

** Hardly anything will bring you more joy in heaven than to see other saints with greater rewards than you, experiencing greater glory than you or given greater authority than you. There will be no jealousy or pride to fuel your unhealthy competitiveness. There will be no greed to energize your race to get more than anyone else. You will then delight only in delighting in the delight of others. Their achievement will be your greatest joy. Their success will be your highest happiness. You will truly rejoice with those who rejoice. Envy comes from lack. But in heaven there is no lack. Whatever you need , you get. Whatever desires may arise, they are satisfied.

Some people in heaven will be happier than others. But this is no reason for sadness or anger. In fact, it will serve only to make you happier to see others are happier than you! Why? Because love dominates in heaven and love is rejoicing in the increase of the happiness of others. 
The reason why we struggle with this because now on earth our thoughts and desires and motives are corrupted by sinful self-seeking, competitiveness, envy , jealousy, and resentment.

I had never heard it put the way Pastor Storms explained it. What a comfort to know that in heaven, self will be taken out of the equation and replaced with perfect love! 💙💚💛💜

Why Study the Past?

One of the textbooks I am reading for one of my classes is called, "Why Study the Past; the Quest for the Historical Church."

There are many things that stood out to me as I was reading, but I'm just going to share a couple of points from the text.

The Bible, in its original language, should be read as expressing what God does for us. For example, when we hear of the wisdom of God in the Bible, we think of how God's actions make us wise, and when we hear of God's justice we should think of that act by which He makes us just. God is free to do what He wills, and His freedom takes the form of acting so as to change us.

Lastly, William Tyndale poses this question, "What is it to recognize in the concrete circumstances of one's own prosperity or welfare the presence of divine action?"
Tyndale suggests that to recognize that the apparent static things that secure our prosperity are carriers of God's love. Therefore, they cannot sit still with us, they must not be prevented from being active signs of love. When we try to hold on to them, we make empty our claims to be dependent on God for our spiritual security, because we implicitly deny that God is active in all of His gifts.

"Dunkirk"

I went with a friend of mine to see the movie, "Dunkirk." I can't say I totally understood the whole movie, but it was excellent. 

The acting and cinematography were phenomenal! 

I had never known the history of Dunkirk and the role it played in World War II. 

It was a very intense and beautiful movie! I highly recommend it!

Now I'm going to Google search it and hopefully fill in whatever pieces of the movie I didn't comprehend! 😋

NTS

I started Nazarene Theological Seminary on Monday. I am going for my master's in Theological Studies.

I am taking two classes this semester; "Critical Developments in the History of Christianity," and "Seminar in Theological Methods and Research."

I am enjoying it so far. We have online forums for each of our classes where we reply to a question from the professor, and post a reply to two other students' posts. It's so cool to hear what God has called each of these students to do. Some have been called to plant churches, some have been called to be pastors. One student is in an organization for Christian motorcyclists.

Throughout these courses, not only will I be involved in academia, but I also have the opportunity to fellowship with other believers.

Religion vs The Gospel

Yesterday, I attended the first of two Covenant Membership classes at Bridgeway Church. The Pastors gave each of us a handout written by Timothy Keller, where he outlines the differences between religion vs The Gospel. I think it's a great reference to have.

1.) Religion- "I obey; therefore I'm accepted."
     Gospel- "I'm accepted; therefore I obey."

2.) Religion- Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
     Gospel- Motivation is based on grateful joy.

3.) Religion- I obey God in order to get things from God.
     Gospel- I obey to resemble God.

4.) Religion- When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or myself, since I believe, like Job's friends, that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
     Gospel- When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle, but I know that while God may allow this for my training, he will exercise his fatherly love within my trial.

5.) Religion- When I am criticized, I am furious or devastated because it is essential for me to think of myself as a "good person."
     Gospel- When I am criticized, I struggle, but it is not essential for me to think of myself as a "good person." My identity is not built on my performance but on God's love for me in Christ.

6.) Religion- My prayer life consists largely of petition and only heats up when I am in need. My main purpose is to control my circumstances.
     Gospel- My prayer life consists of generous amounts of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with him.

7.) Religion-My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to people who fail. If and when I am not living up to my standards, I feel humble but not confident-I feel like a failure.
     Gospel- My self-view is not based on a view of myself as a moral achiever. In Christ I am at once sinful and lost, yet accepted. I am so bad he had to die for me, and so loved he was glad to die for me.

8.) Religion- My identity is based mainly on how hard I work or how moral I am, so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to others.
      Gospel- My identity is centered on the One who died for his enemies, including me. Only by sheer grace am I what I am, so I can't look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. I have no inner need to win an argument.

9.) Religion- Since I look to my pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability,my heart manufactures idols. They are my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance.
     Gospel- I have many good things in life-family, work, etc., but none of these good things are ultimate things to me. I don't absolutely have to have them, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness and despair they can inflict on me when they are threatened or lost.

Sermon

Today's sermon was from Revelation 5:1-14. I am so loving this sermon series over the book of Revelation!

Here are some of the main points I took away from today's sermon:

In verse 4, John weeps because there is no one worthy to open the scroll or to even look inside of it. However, in verse 5, one of the elders tells John to stop weeping, because there is One who is worthy.

The One who is worthy appears to John as a lion (verse 5), then as a lamb (verse 6).

The death of Jesus qualifies him to break the seals and reveal the content of the scroll, because as verse 9 makes clear, by means of his "blood" alone, people from every tribe and language and nation are "ransomed" from sin and condemnation.

God's Love of Ethnic Diversity

God loves ethnic diversity as is evident from the purpose of Christ's sinless life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection. God's aim is to have a redeemed bride for his Son from "every tribe and language and people and nation" ( verse 9b).

** The events in Charlottesville last week are not so much a hatred of a particular people group, but a hatred of God and a denial of the glory of God in creating every single human being in his image. 

The Adoration of the Lion and the Lamb

In Revelation 5:5 Jesus is called "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," but in Revelation 5:6, Jesus is also portrayed as the "Lamb." It is this juxtaposition of contrasting images that the answer is found to what makes Jesus worthy of our adoration and praise. Pastor Storms gave a page and a half of these seemingly contrasting images. Here are just a few:

The Lion who wields power and strength that none can resist is also the Lamb who walked the earth in weakness and suffering, resisting none.

The Lion who is known for his uncompromising commitment to righteousness is also the Lamb who overflows in love to sinners like you and me.

The Lion who could silence a raging storm with a single word is also the Lamb who refused to speak or revile against those who nailed him to a cross.

The Lion who is life itself is also the Lamb who willingly dies for his enemies.

The Lion who drove the robbers and thieves out of the Temple is also the Lamb who only days later allowed those very robbers and thieves to nail him to a cross.

The Lion who commands absolute obedience from his creatures is also the Lamb who in obedience honored every command of his Father.

Jesus is at one and the same time a Lion-like-Lamb and a Lamb-like Lion without any inconsistency or contradiction.

Book Excerpt

Here is a random gobbet from my book.

In August of 1986, while I was working at my dad's store, I spotted an extremely handsome man, who was a sales representative for Nabisco. I pursued him, and for a very long time would have considered him to be the love of my life.
Joe Whitmarsh would come into AMC several times a week to stock the Nabisco shelves. I knew right away that he was considerably older than I was, but I was only fixated on how cute he was. When I would see Joe walk in, I would make my way over to the Nabisco section of the grocery department. We would talk and boldly flirt with each other. He told me he was 26 years old, but that did not dissuade me in the least. However, when I told him I was 16, he was initially hesitant.
Still, I was so bold that I gave him my phone number and told him to call me.
Once he got past his initial hesitation, we started dating. After the first date, I felt an immediate attachment to him.We talked every evening, and I would spend Friday and Saturday evenings at his apartment. We really couldn't go out in public for fear of exposure. I was able to keep the relationship a secret from my parents for a year.
Almost exactly a year after we started dating, Joe called me one evening, and told me he had met a woman in his apartment complex, whom he really liked. He told me he thought we should see other people. I had a complete meltdown. This gave birth to a new obsession; getting Joe back.
It was like Fatal Attraction Part 2. I would drive past his apartment and call him several times a day. When none of that worked, I spiraled into full blown anorexia.

Scripture verse:
"In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry" (Jonah 2:1).

Self-discipline vs Self-control

In the bible study I am doing, "The Weight of Grace", the author asks the us to read the Addendum that is in the back of the book titled, "Self-Disciplined Religion", by Malcolm Smith.

Malcolm Smith describes the difference between self-discipline and self-control. I thought it was very compelling and I wanted to share a few bullet points from the article.

Self-discipline:

• Self-discipline is an imposition. It comes from the outside. I impose or let someone else impose a certain law upon me.
• It's an imposition upon my inner desires, my inner lusts. I will do what I am "supposed" to do. I grit my teeth and say I won't do this or that. I'm going to twist my arm, and make myself do what I don't want to do. 
• Self-discipline is about, "you should," you must," and "you ought."
• The Pharisees were into self-discipline. They were all about appearance. They shared that in common with every other religion in the world. Jesus went to the Pharisees of His day and in Matthew 23 He says, "You blind Pharisees, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also."
• Self-discipline is an action of the flesh; the desire to live independently from God.

Self-control:

• Self-control is listening to the Holy Spirit. It is not a law imposed on me from the outside. It's listening to who I now am in Christ.
• When the flesh calls me, I say, "You are not me. You have been crucified with Christ. I am not confessing this to make it happen. I am confessing it because it has already happened.
• Self-control is about living out who I really am. It's not changing my flesh. That's already been crucified. It's exchanging. I exchange and let Christ live.
• Self-control is a response to the voice of the Spirit within.

Titus 2:11-12 says, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. It teaches us to say 'no' to ungodliness and wordly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age" (emphasis mine).

Sermon

Today's sermon was from Revelation 4:1-11. It was entitled "Enthroned, Encircled, Extolled"! It was an amazing sermon!

What is happening in heaven right now? Literally, John was given a vision that answers this question, and the portrait it provides is as true today as it was nearly 2000 years ago.

Enthroned:

In Revelation 4:3 we see God in a resplendent blaze of unapproachable light, the jewels refracting the glory and majesty of God's luminous beauty.

• The One on the throne has the appearance of jasper,  an opaque stone that is usually red, but can be yellow, green, and grayish blue. It suggests the quality of majesty and holiness and is used later in Revelation as an image for the overall appearanace of the New Jerusalem, which manifests the glory of God (21:11).
• The sardius , or carnelian was a red stone that evokes the image of both divine jealousy and righteous wrath.
• The rainbow reminds us of the faithfulness of God when He first set this sign in the heavens as a pledge to Noah following the great flood.

** John was not saying that God is a jasper or a sardius, but that His appearance was like such precious stones.


Encircled:

In John's vision the throne of God is, as it should be, at the center of all heavenly activity. The throne is the focus of a series of concentric circles made up first of a rainbow, then a circle of the four living creatures, then a circle of the 24 thrones which the 24 elders sit. A great host of angels also encircled the throne (Revelation 5:11, 7:11), and eventually all creation joins the worshipping throng (Revelation 5:13)

The description of the four living creatures may be designed to suggest qualities in the God they serve: the lion pointing to royal power; the calf/ox, a symbol of strength; the man, an expression of intelligence and spirituality; and the eagle, an embodiment of swiftness and action.


Extolled:

The word "worship" means to fall prostrate at someone's feet. The elders fell down before God, because it was the only reasonable and sensible thing to do! They fall because they are overwhelmed!

Why do the four living creatures not cease day or night from praising? What else could compare with the joy of unending adoration and delight in the splendor of God? It is not an expression of mere "duty". It's that nothing can compete in its capacity to fascinate and fulfill and satisfy and entrance them.

Practical takeaway:
 *** Spiritually stunned people are not easily seduced by sin. People in awe of God will always find sin less appealing. When you are dazzled by God it is difficult to be duped by sin. When you are enthralled by His beauty it is hard to become enslaved by unrighteousness. People whose attention has been captured by the beauty of Christ find little appeal in the glamour of this world. People whose hearts are enthralled with the revelation of God's greatness turn a deaf ear to the otherwise alluring sounds of sin, the flesh, and the Devil.

Great night!

Tonight, I hung out with my friend Amy. It was such a wonderful evening!
We both struggle with food and weight and we openly shared about the journey that we are on to experience freedom over compulsive overeating.
As usual, we also laughed hysterically! When we were ordering dinner, we were laughing so hard that we couldn't even get the words out for what we wanted to order.
We ended the evening by watching the movie "The Help". For those who haven't seen " The Help" it is definitely worth watching.

All in all, it was an evening spent doing everything you would hope to do with a close friend; sharing, laughing and relaxing.

Scripture verse:
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to weep and a time to laugh" (Ecclesiastes 3:1&4).

Scholarship

I found out today that I received a scholarship from Nazarene Theological Seminary! I am very excited!
They told me, because of the quality of my submission material, that I qualify for a scholarship.
I was concerned, because private universities are very expensive, but God provided even more than what I needed.
I do not need to worry, because God is faithful and always provides for His own!  Thank you Father for your provision! Help me to overcome my unbelief!

Scripture verse:
"Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life" ( Matthew 6:25-27)?

Psalm 55 and Reed

Part of the homework for my Bible study is to read Psalm 55 and identify the four steps of "REED" as experienced by the Psalmist.
This is how I interpreted the Psalm in relation to "REED".

R (recognize the emotions)
David felt distraught, anguish, fear, hurt, and gratitude.
E ( express emotions to God)
David tells God he is distraught, and he expresses hurt about being betrayed by a friend. David tells God how scared he is. Finally, David expresses his love and gratitude for God's provision and holiness.
E ( evaluate what the emotions are saying about one's thoughts and beliefs).
At first, David wants vengeance, but ultimately he trusts God truth as his authority.
D ( decide to replace lies with God's truth)
David voices the truth about God; that God hears his voice; God ransoms him; God is enthroned forever; God sustains, and brings down the wicked. David ends the Psalm by saying, " I trust you".

Scripture verse:
"Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. But as for me, I trust in you" ( Psalm 55:22&23b).