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| Let's talk about some Hebrews 6:19ness.
" We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, both strong and steadfast. It enters the inner sanctuary, behind the curtain, where Jesus who went before us entered on our behalf."
I love this verse. we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, both strong and steadfast. This hope, the hope of the glory of God, the hope of our salvation, the hope which is Jesus is an anchor to our souls.
I love the imagery that that verse creates. I imagine there are many different kinds of anchors you could think about, however, i like to imagine a ships anchor. At sea a ships anchor was a very important tool. People on the ship relied on the anchor for rest. They relied on it to keep them in place and not get knocked off course. When storms arose, they relied on it to get them through. Without it they could well be lost. They had hope in it. That it would hold them safe.
In Jesus we find all of these things. In our hope, our believing in Jesus, we find ourselves a strong and steadfast anchor. Something to hold on to. To hope in. To have when the storm is raging and the world is trying to bog you down. We have this anchor for our soul. Strong and steadfast.
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| This verse there is I Corinthians 15:55. This is a verse that I hold very close to my heart. It has always struck me as something to hold on to. We as Christians have victory over death. Victory over sin. Through no other means has this victory been obtained other than through the sacrifice, the crucifixion, of Jesus Christ. The crucifixion of Jesus. God loved us so much, so powerfully, that he allowed himself to be killed. Not for his own gain but for us. So that we could have victory. So we could have him in our life, so we could be closer to him, so we could know his love. That still gets me to this day. I think no matter how long I'm a Christian, when I start to think about it, that will always get me. How could I ever stop thanking Jesus for that? Everything I am and everything I have, I owe to God. Lately God has really been revealing himself to me. I was feeling pretty distant for awhile there but, God is so faithful to have pulled me back to him. He's just put this desire in my heart to be close to him, to serve him. He's given me a hunger for his word and just to talk to him about everything. To praise him with my whole heart. I have all of these things because he gave up his life, so I could have a life. What I would give for everyone to have their hearts opened and to see that truth. My God, I pray for that day. | | |
| 2 Corinthians7-10
7To keep me from becoming
conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was
given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But
he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about
my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That
is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in
hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I
am strong.
The other day, Wednesday to be exact, me and some friends were sitting around. We got to talking about the bible and stuff and it kind of turned into an amazing spontaneous bible study. It was really cool, just four christians sitting around talking about God, it just happened naturally. Shane brought up the verse above and we talked about it for awhile, it was pretty awesome. This is Paul talking about himself.
This scripture is so powerful. Here Paul is, the same Paul who has been shipwrecked thrice, beaten, stoned, robbed, mugged, flogged, and everything saying he delights in all of these things. Imagine that. He delights in all of these things, in all of these weaknesses because the Lord's power is made perfect in weakness.
It's uplifting, because when you're at you lowest, when you're beaten down, when you feel like everything is against you, when your depressed, when it seems like life has given you so much crap, the Lord is there, and He is ready to make you strong through your weakness. How powerful is that! More so we shouldn't worry or complain about these trials, but delight in them, knowing what the Lord has in store for us, after all, it was also Paul who said they are but light and momentary pains.
So when you're feeling overwhelmed, keep your eyes on the cross and God will strengthen you and use you to His glory.
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| Last weekend some friends and I went to the beach. We didn't go there for vacation or anything silly like that. We went there to tell people about Jesus.
We went to Rehobeth and walked up and down the boardwalk. Let me tell you one thing though. I stink at it. It's hard. We as Christians are commissioned by God to do this, but that doesn't make it any easier. It's sad but it doesn't seem like people want to hear it. We got ignored a lot. People got snippish. Some people listened though and thats what matters the most. It's all about the one out of the hundred you try and talk to. If one person hears the word and they get it, then it's worth having talked to a hundred other people without any result. We also got to plant seeds. We're told to deliver the word, not force people to believe in it, the word is alive and it will grow on its own.
Shane and I got to talking to this one dude and his wife for a good long while. I felt led to speak to him and it turned out pretty cool. The guy was the Chief of the Appalachian Cherokees. Yes. A Native American Chieftain. He was also the Shaman and medicine man so he was into all this spiritual stuff. He knew about Jesus and stuff, but, it was still good to talk to him. It was what I was supposed to do.
Overall the trip was good I'd say, it was definitely a learning experience that I can carry over into other evangelical type trips
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| Well folks, here comes yet another tale of Jesus vs. the Pharisees. Let's see how this goes.
1And He began to speak to them in parables: "A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 2"At
the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to
receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. 3"They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4"Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. 5"And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. 6"He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 7"But those vine-growers said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!' 8"They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9"What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. 10"Have you not even read this Scripture:
'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone;
11THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD,
AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?" 12And
they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for
they understood that He spoke the parable against them And so they left Him and went away.
Here we have another parable spoken from Jesus. To me, this is one of the most intense of His parables. This is what I got from it. Maybe I'm not right. I feel good about it though. Jesus starts off telling of a vine grower building a vineyard and renting it out to some people. These people work the vineyard for a while. Now it comes time for the harvest and the vine grower sends a servant to collect the rent and a portion of the harvest. Now the renters decide they don't like that so they beat the servant and send him away. Again the vine grower sends out a servant and this one they too beat. Another servant is sent and this one is murdered. Time and again a servant is sent out to reason and collect what is owed and over and over these people beat and murder and refuse to submit to them. Eventually the vine grower gets tired of this and sends his son reasoning that they would respect him and what he has to say. This proves not to be the case. The renters, thinking that if they kill the heir they'd gain his inheritance, do so. This of course finally raises the ire of the vine grower to the point of destroying the renters. Let's get down to it now. The vine grower is like God himself. He gives his people a wonderful land, yet after time they scorn him. When this happens he sends a prophet (the servants) yet time and time again the people refuse to listen to him, beating or killing him, or if they listen to him, it is only for a short while. After years and years of this happening God decides to send His only son. Jesus. Yet these people rise up against God all the more refusing to listen and submit and eventually the kill the son. They crucify Jesus. Now I find this parable so intense because here is Jesus, talking to the Pharisees, calling them unfaithful murderers in a very thinly veiled way. Not only that, he is predicting them killing Him.
This parable also shows how merciful God is. If I were a vine grower and someone beat my servant instead of coughing up what he owed, that would be it. There would be no more chances. However God, in His infinite love and wisdom and mercy, cane to his people time and time again. Most refuse, some don't. To this day, God still comes to his people, to us, but he isn't asking for money or for a portion of the harvest. He is asking for our faith and our love and our obedience, which if we give to Him we will gain, not a vineyard, but eternal life.
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