Life Listenings (1 Corinthians 11 And a Photo)

 ^1-2It pleases me that you continue to remember and honor me by keeping up the traditions of the faith I taught you. All actual authority stems from Christ. ^3-9In a marriage relationship, there is authority from Christ to husband, and from husband to wife. The authority of Christ is the authority of God. Any man who speaks with God or about God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of Christ, dishonors Christ. In the same way, a wife who speaks with God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of her husband, dishonors her husband. Worse, she dishonors herself—an ugly sight, like a woman with her head shaved. This is basically the origin of these customs we have of women wearing head coverings in worship, while men take their hats off. By these symbolic acts, men and women, who far too often butt heads with each other, submit their "heads" to the Head: God.
 ^10-12Don't, by the way, read too much into the differences here between men and women. Neither man nor woman can go it alone or claim priority. Man was created first, as a beautiful shining reflection of God—that is true. But the head on a woman's body clearly outshines in beauty the head of her "head," her husband. The first woman came from man, true—but ever since then, every man comes from a woman! And since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let's quit going through these "who's first" routines.
 ^13-16Don't you agree there is something naturally powerful in the symbolism—a woman, her beautiful hair reminiscent of angels, praying in adoration; a man, his head bared in reverence, praying in submission? I hope you're not going to be argumentative about this. All God's churches see it this way; I don't want you standing out as an exception.
 ^17-19Regarding this next item, I'm not at all pleased. I am getting the picture that when you meet together it brings out your worst side instead of your best! First, I get this report on your divisiveness, competing with and criticizing each other. I'm reluctant to believe it, but there it is. The best that can be said for it is that the testing process will bring truth into the open and confirm it.
 ^20-22And then I find that you bring your divisions to worship—you come together, and instead of eating the Lord's Supper, you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves. Some are left out, and go home hungry. Others have to be carried out, too drunk to walk. I can't believe it! Don't you have your own homes to eat and drink in? Why would you stoop to desecrating God's church? Why would you actually shame God's poor? I never would have believed you would stoop to this. And I'm not going to stand by and say nothing.
 ^23-26Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord's Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,

   This is my body, broken for you.
   Do this to remember me.
After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:
   This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.
   Each time you drink this cup, remember me.
What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.
 ^27-28Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of "remembrance" you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe. (1 Corinthians 11, The Message)


Don't forget to go to Church, have an unforgettable experience with God today.

Life Listenings (Ephesians 3 And a Photo)

 ^1-3This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.
 ^4-6As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.
 ^7-8This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.
 ^8-10And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!
 ^11-13All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!
 ^14-19My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
 ^20-21God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

   Glory to God in the church!
   Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
   Glory down all the generations!
   Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! (Ephesians 3, The Message)


I love this chapter.
Go to church today, have a God Moment.  Connect with Him.

Catsup. Catchup. Ketchup.

Good Morning Everyone!  Shoo, been a wild month.  Let's go over some of the happenings real quick.

I turned 14

Easter

Osama Bin Laden was killed

People were way too happy about it

I got a Ukulele <3

I got a turntable <3

Mother's Day

I didn't see my Mom on Mother's Day

Shot Eowyn's CD Release party, on Mother's Day

Finished Velvet Elvis

Got "The Next Christians" by Gabe Lyons

Sketchers put out some reeaally stupid shoes.  You know what I'm talking about.

Made some new friends

And that's just a tad of all the happenings. Shoo.  There's been Drama, there's been Sadness, There's been happiness.

And there's been God.  Let's talk about yesterday, shall we?  It was absolutely amazing!

Wait, let's do Wednesday first.  Wednesday, Robert had a guest speaker come and talk.  I can't remember his name.... BUT, he's the Sports Chaplain for UT.  Great guy.  He talked for a while and it was all good, but towards the end he really said something cool.

Devote 1 Percent (%) of your day, to God.  Pray, read your bible, praise Him, whatever you want to do, in the presence of Him.  1%.  That's 14.4 minutes.  C'mon, you can do that.

I think it's a great goal to go off of.  1 percent!

Back to Sunday.  So.  I got up even earlier, and read I think 4 chapters of my Bible and listened to some good worship music.  Then it started off like any Sunday, show up early practice all that.  Then worship started. Wow.  My goodness God was in that room.  I really felt Him, it was amazing.  Jules was singing, and she was getting into it which made me smile as well.  Then the sermon came, and God just kept right on moving.  Joe kept making such great, timely points.  The second verse in the sermon I recognized vividly, it was in one of the chapters I'd read earlier.  Coincidences like that always make me smile.

Then he gets into the Parable of the soils, and I can tell it's gonna be great.  I'll do a real sermon view post later in the week.  Moving on...

Joe keeps making points and Jules and I are really clicking and looking at each other, we could see it in each other. 

Second point comes, and it fits perfectly with the 1 Percent goal.  "Allocate a time to listen" Boom.

We both noted 14.4 and high-fived each other. (Yea, that's how we roll)  And Joe keeps going and I'm really soaking it in and you could feel the room soaking it in.  Then his next point comes and it fits perfectly with something Jules and I were talking about just days before.

The point's verse is Luke 8:13, "The Rocky soil represents those who hear the message with joy.  But like young plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep.  They believe for a while, but they wilt when the hot winds of testing blow"

Friday, Jules had the idea for Wednesday night, to put up four chairs.  It's been 5 months since Resurrection, and she thought it'd be great to see who's really stuck and changed.  Boom.  And Joe keeps going and it's absolutely great.  After service we talked about how we could feel God in the room.

So that's my lengthy wordy story of the week.  Have a story of one of those great Sundays? I'd love to read it!  But for now, I'm off to read the newspaper.  Have a good day everyone! 

Life Listenings (Isaiah 53 And a Photo)

 ¹ Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

 ^2-6The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,

   a scrubby plant in a parched field.

There was nothing attractive about him,

   nothing to cause us to take a second look.

He was looked down on and passed over,

   a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.

One look at him and people turned away.

   We looked down on him, thought he was scum.

But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—

   our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

We thought he brought it on himself,

   that God was punishing him for his own failures.

But it was our sins that did that to him,

   that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!

He took the punishment, and that made us whole.

   Through his bruises we get healed.

We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.

   We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.

And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,

   on him, on him.

 ^7-9He was beaten, he was tortured,

   but he didn't say a word.

Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered

   and like a sheep being sheared,

   he took it all in silence.

Justice miscarried, and he was led off—

   and did anyone really know what was happening?

He died without a thought for his own welfare,

   beaten bloody for the sins of my people.

They buried him with the wicked,

   threw him in a grave with a rich man,

Even though he'd never hurt a soul

   or said one word that wasn't true.

 ¹⁰Still, it's what God had in mind all along,

   to crush him with pain.

The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin

   so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life.

   And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.

 ^11-12Out of that terrible travail of soul,

   he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.

Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,

   will make many "righteous ones,"

   as he himself carries the burden of their sins.

Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly—

   the best of everything, the highest honors—

Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch,

   because he embraced the company of the lowest.

He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,

   he took up the cause of all the black sheep. (Isaiah 53, The Message)

Our God is awesome, isn't He?  Go to church today, feed on the eternal food.

Tomorrow or Tuesday I'll be posting a nice long catch up post, sorry for the absence!

Shot Jacob's CD release last week....

Life Listenings (Ephesians 2 And a Photo)

 ^1-6It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

 ^7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

 ^11-13But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.

 ^14-15The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.

 ^16-18Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

 ^19-22That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home. (Ephesians 2, The Message)

Throwback image today, because tonight I'm shooting a CD release party for this guy!  Awesome Guitarist and a real Man of God, he plays in a Rock Christian Band 'Eowyn'.  Very cool dude.

Have a good day everyone!  Bring someone to church with you.

Life Listenings (Psalm 139 And a Photo)

 ^1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.

   I'm an open book to you;

      even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.

   You know when I leave and when I get back;

      I'm never out of your sight.

   You know everything I'm going to say

      before I start the first sentence.

   I look behind me and you're there,

      then up ahead and you're there, too—

      your reassuring presence, coming and going.

   This is too much, too wonderful—

      I can't take it all in!

 ^7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?

      to be out of your sight?

   If I climb to the sky, you're there!

      If I go underground, you're there!

   If I flew on morning's wings

      to the far western horizon,

   You'd find me in a minute—

      you're already there waiting!

   Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark!

      At night I'm immersed in the light!"

   It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you;

      night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.

 ^13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

      you formed me in my mother's womb.

   I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!

      Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

      I worship in adoration—what a creation!

   You know me inside and out,

      you know every bone in my body;

   You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

      how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

   Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

      all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

   The days of my life all prepared

      before I'd even lived one day.

 ^17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!

      God, I'll never comprehend them!

   I couldn't even begin to count them—

      any more than I could count the sand of the sea.

   Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!

      And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!

   And you murderers—out of here!—

      all the men and women who belittle you, God,

      infatuated with cheap god-imitations.

   See how I hate those who hate you, God,

      see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;

   I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.

      Your enemies are my enemies!

 ^23-24 Investigate my life, O God,

      find out everything about me;

   Cross-examine and test me,

      get a clear picture of what I'm about;

   See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong—

      then guide me on the road to eternal life. (Psalm 139, The Message)

Shot some lightening during the INSANE storms Wednesday.  Lots of Hail and a funnel formed in our yard but nothing more than that for us.