Attempting to Understand

In a few weeks, my college roommate will holding a benefit concert to help cover the costs of a family situation that is too detailed to share in this blog.  The benefit concert is October 2 at 7pm in Streamwood, IL with the band “Least of These.”

Read their story here:   http:/jacksonsstory2.blogspot.com/

Hear the band here:   www.theleastofthese.com

Good Friday is a day of prayer, repentance, and remebering the death of Jesus on a cross.  In the ancient church, the morning of Good Friday including a tribute to wooden cross  (See Historical Findings 1).   In addition that, around the middle of day, mostly like noon, worshipers would gather to hear the Scriptures read about the passion of Christ for about 3 hours or so.  These readings would be taken from the Psalms, the Epistles, the prophets, Acts, and the Gospels.  In between these readings, there were prayers and sermons given to help bring people along in their worship experience.  This time would end with reading from the book of John regarding Christ’s death.

Not only did these worshipers begin their time in the morning, but now they’re listening to the Word for upwards of 3 hours!  Talk about a washing of the word!!!  I wonder what it would be like to have a day this, when we spent the morning worshiping God and paying tribute to Him with a focus on the cross, and then coming back for the afternoon with an intent of just listen to Him speak through the written Word.

Very cool!

A phenomenon that I have to admit I never saw coming.  Millions are aware this book series, now turned movies, and yet until last week I had never heard of Twilight. And come to find out, three of my friends had been watching it at the same time in different locations!  Phenomenon it has become!

What is it?  Well, its as big a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, still appealing to a younger culture as a whole ( at least that’s my personal perception).  Twilight is a series of four vampire-based novels written by Stephenie Meyer.

Twilight is a series that we as Christians should be familiar with and know about….Why? Everyone around you probably knows about Twilight.    More information can be found at Wikipedia.com or you can simply walk in to your local Borders bookstore.

I’m curious what you think of it.  Feel to comment.

I’ve had the chance to be a volunteer worship leader at Alpine Community Church, in Riverdale, Utah. This past Sunday, God was there! It was awesome. I invited a friend to come who had never been to Alpine, and I think he enjoyed it. Most of all, it was a great opportunity to see people so interested in worshipping God and hearing what He had to say through the Word. Being a worship leader has many benefits, but none can really compare to the benefit of seeing God move in the lives of people, and that’s probably why I enjoy ministry so much. I’m so thankful that God has given me a chance to lead worship.

www.pursuegod.org

It amazes me to think about how jealous God is to receive praise from His creation. This past Sunday, my senior pastor spoke out of Psalm 107, a restoration Psalm that highlights 4 different types of people and their responses to their situations. As we read through the Psalm, and as he gave instruction on certain text within the Psalm, one amazing truth jumped out at me.

God desires to deliver us from our struggles , not just so we can experience blessing, but also because he desires for us to worship Him. For example, verse 4 of Psalm 107 describes a group of people who are basically lost, wandering in the desert, with no where to settle. God leads them by a “straight way” to a place where they could settle in verse 7, and then one verse later it commands those people to give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love. Yes our worship is a response to God, but just as much, it is God fulfilling His passionate desire to receive praise.

This same theme can be seen in verses 10-16, 17-22, and 28-32.

One last thought…Psalm 107 provides such a wonderful description of God, and how He handles those who cry to him in their distress. In verse 7, God leads them by a straight way, and proves His desire to give clarity and security to those who cry out to him. In verse 14, we read how God breaks away chains and brings some out of darkness, and here proves His desire to give freedom to those who cry out to Him. In verse 20, God sends forth His word and heals, rescuing some from the grave, and here proves His desire to bring healing and restoration to those who are sick and cry out to Him in their illness. And finally, in verse 29, God stills the storm in order to speak to those who were crying to Him, proving His desire to bring peace and establish clear communication with them.

Thank you God for giving me clarity, security, freedom, healing, peace, and the ability to hear to You speak when I cry to you. Father, help us all to be people who continually fall on our knees and cry out to you in our struggles, that You may receive praise!

Lately, I have been taught the power of forgiveness, and how it has affect my worship to God. I’ve come to realize that some of the most powerful people in the world are those individuals who carry the weight of forgiving someone. Why? Because without forgiveness, pride, bitterness, and anger seed into life and eventually produce death. But forgiveness, well…that produces quite the opposite.

Let’s face it, eventually you’ll be put in a position like me where you’ll have a choice, forgive or not forgive. Basically the choice becomes love or don’t love. Who are we to think that somewhere out there is a situation that would govern this decision. Are we not called to forgive as Christ has forgiven us? Of course! That’s not a biblical option, it’s a biblical command, and as much as it hurts to forgive someone who’s hurt you, remember the hurt that Christ must have gone through to forgive even you, let alone the entire human race.

But forgiveness considered to be the most powerful tool a human could possess? Think of it this way, without forgiveness, there would be no cross, no shed blood, worse yet, no Incarnation, and to make it ultimately worse, no relationship with the Ultimate Creator! If God can forgive me by giving himself on a cross, then surely, regardless of circumstance, I must allow myself to forgive others, or I dare to fight God, and I’m pretty sure I know who’d win that battle!

Don’t get me wrong, forgiveness doesn’t mean that you have to become buddy-buddy again, yet it does mean that you have to take what’s happend, put it aside, and FORGET about it. I’d like to think I could forgive and remember, but again, I rest on the position that God not only forgives me, but washes my sin white as snow, and that’s not remembering, that’s elimating it from the history book!