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Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. - Matthew 10:37-38
The Kingdom requires some heartbreak.
Fathers and mothers watch their sons and daughters give their lives for the Kingdom.
Sons and daughters watch their fathers and mothers give their lives for the Kingdom.
This must be so since this is the pattern laid down by the owner of the Kingdom.
The King watched His Son give His life for the Kingdom.
The secret of the Kingdom path however, is the accompaniment of great joy.
"Blessed" are those who walk in the path of the Kingdom.
Christ Himself took the cross with the joy set before Him.
Let us also take up our crosses daily.
The Kingdom is worth living and dying for.
Which Kingdom are you spending your life on?
Yours or the Kingdom of God's?
Thank You for inviting us to a narrow and sacred path tread on by only the few and the courageous.
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| The High School group will be journeying through Mark the next year and a half or so.
In my study/preparation, He showed me a powerful insight.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus tells His disciples on 3 occasions that He will be crucified and rise again.
These 3 occasions are:
Mark 8:31
Mark 9:30-32
Mark 10:32-34.
The significant thing about each 3 occasions is that EVERY account is followed by the selfish me-centered thinking of His disciples.
When Jesus shares in Mark 8:31, Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes Him.
When Jesus shares in Mark 9:30-32, the disciples have a discussion on the road to Capernaum as to who will be the greatest.
When Jesus shares in Mark 10:32-34, James and John request that they sit at His right and left hand.
Think about this.
Jesus shares the most important news the world has ever heard or will ever hear.
Yet, each disciple is occupied with his own thoughts, goals, and agendas.
This is saying something about the heart of human beings.
I am glad that Christ, the second Adam, came to both save and to show us what it really means to be a human being as God intended.
Thank you Jesus
"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." - Mark 10:45
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"Xanga is dead" - Nietzsche
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It's no secret: I have a strange sense of humor.
This post is not an apology for my sense of humor.
Truth be told, I only apologize for being staunchly unapologetic.
This post is meant to be an explanation. At least I hope.
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My brain just has a knack for jumping from topic to topic on a whim just because I notice something and I wonder why no one has noticed it before.
Here's an example.
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One day I was sitting at Starbucks reading deep things regarding theology/eschatology.
As I was sitting there sipping on my coffee, I thought "Man, competing against Starbucks must be tough business."
And then I thought, "If I opened a coffee shop, what would I name it?"
I started dissecting the name of Starbucks. It's catchy. It's unique. It combines words that are entirely unrelated. Star and bucks.
Then I started thinking about the range of meaning with the words:
Stars. Interesting. Rock star or a physical star in the universe? I go with the latter. Their logo implies it.
Now bucks is tricky because it could be subdivided into 3 categories.
1. A male mammal with antlers. "Look at that buck running towards the car!!!!"
2. A title of address. "Hey there young buck..."
3. Another reference to money. "Can you spare me a couple bucks?"
In every case, an enormous piece of rock floating around space and buck are entirely unrelated.
Now I decide in my mind that the bucks in starbucks is most likely the 3rd choice because it typically costs a few bucks for a drink/coffee AND they as a company make a lot of bucks in profit.
These two words and thoughts orbit around my mind.
Then it hits me.
I know exactly what I would name my coffee house:
Planetcents.
Why?
1. Planets are more habitable than stars. How do I know this? Earth is the only place that can hold life and it happens to be a planet. So by virtue of the 1-0 score, planets win the battle of "most habitable."
2. Cents are cheaper than bucks. In most cases, a singular buck can have greater value than plural cents. This is why we have the 99 CENT store not the 99 BUCKS store. Duh.
1+2 = A coffee house that is more habitable and customer friendly and sells cheaper coffee.
Now THAT is a coffee house I'd go to!
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After all that...I pick up my phone and proceed to text a couple people, "Hey, check out Planetcents."
To which I get the response, "What the heck are you talking about?"
They think I'm crazy.
I sit there feeling accomplished as I laugh in my heart.
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Now you're sitting there and you think I'm crazy. But check this out:
Picture a man. He's sitting at Pinkberry.
He wants to open up a yogurt place.
He wonders how in the world he could outdo pinkberry.
He sits. He reflects.
Pink. Berry.
He dissects the words and then it hits him.
Red. Mango.
What say you to that?
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There's my explanation for my madness.
What's your style of humor and give an example.
=)
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- When I entered Talbot, I had lunch with this guy named Peter Chung at a little Mexican restaurant next to the dollar theater. It was his last year at Talbot, it was my first semester. As we started chatting, I soon discovered that he was incredibly well versed in every book of the New Testament. He was taking a course in Acts because he felt it was the one book he didn't have a good grasp of. I won't lie. I was impressed, convicted, challenged, and depressed all at the same time. At the time, I just blamed his photogenic memory and genius of mind. I am discovering now that it was those things AND hard work. Strange things have been happening in my heart the past few months. I've found myself desiring Christian books less and less and wanting His book more and more. I am more excited to read this book than ever before. The turn of every page has something new, yet old, it's then, yet now. When I open the Bible, I get to see His character, His nature and in turn see the filthiness of my own character, yet encouraged that He's given me a new nature. I confess I know too much spiritual mumble jumble and not enough Scripture. It's easy to know SMJ because it only takes a few conversations with a mature Christian or two to form a few weak-reasoned thoughts on spirituality or it just takes a few books with little biblical substance but well constructed sentences/paragraphs w/ a few inspiring stories before I'm puffing out my chest because I've figured God out. Turrible! I want to become more familiar with this book. I know that when I read this book, it's actually Him reading me. I know when I try to interpret the contents of this book, it's actually Him interpreting my thoughts and motives. I know when I try to dissect and exegete a passage, it's actually Him that's dissecting and exegeting my soul, spirit, joint, and marrow. Less spiritual mumble jumble, more Scripture.
"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it." - Joshua 1:8
- A passage that's really shaped my preaching is John 8. In a matter of 25 verses, Jesus teaches that humanity apart from Him is in darkness, headed to death, slaves to sin, and are children of the devil. This has impacted me in ways I cannot communicate over a blog. It's a strange feeling walking up to preach, put my notes on the stand, and quickly organize my thoughts last second while staring out at people I and others deeply care about, yet are in darkness, headed to death, slaves to sin, and are children of the devil. It immediately places me in a situation where the only thing I feel I can do is turn to the only Person I know that can do something about it. It minimizes me. It puts me in my place. It reminds me that I am not the savior, that I am completely unable to save, but that I can only point to the Savior. It only makes sense then for me to point to the Savior feverishly urging all hearers to respond to what they hear. I challenge you, the next time you walk into your church building, to think of the lost as in darkness, headed to death, slaves to sin, and as children of the devil. You won't pray/teach/preach/counsel the same way.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." - John 8:51
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