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One thing that has been almost a constant with me over the past few years is the search. I went and looked at some old blogs of mine and they had a topic that appeared over and over which is that something different is coming and speaking of a search.

I thought maybe the search was over when we started LifeQuest last year but instead it was just put on hold for a little while and has been coming back out again lately. It’s not a desire to leave and start something different – LifeQuest is to be something different. Suite200 is a start to us being different but it isn’t the end. God is calling us to be different – to reach people in a different way – to show God to people in a different way- to come to know God ourselves in a different way.

Go to Mark 8:28

When I was searching this week for what message God wanted me to pass on this week several things came to mind. First – this was a week straight from hell. Secondly I had a whirlwind of thoughts and ideas racing through my head and could get no clarity because of the way the rest of the week was going. It wasn’t till Saturday that I could receive a consistent word from God on what I should say.

And He said to them, But who do you say that I am? And Peter answered and said to Him, You are the Christ. (Mar 8:29)

Christianity has a multitude of denominations – each with their own belief about doctrine. There are false beliefs about what the Bible says that are thought of as common knowledge. There are conservative Christians, liberal Christians, middle-of-the-road Christians. If you really look at it – it is almost like we have a personal pet Jesus that we have molded to fit our circumstances.

Jesus is probably one of the most repeated names in the world. When John Lennon tried to explain how bog the Beatles were by comparing them to someone he picked Jesus. Nobody has had their message more repeated than Jesus – though how accurately is debate-able. He is quoted and talked about by more people – many people claim to love Jesus message even though they can’t stand Christians.

Some churches have the get-out-of hell-free Jesus. There have been millions and millions of people come to a church, a christian event or conference where they say the prayer then go on living a life totally without any presence of Jesus in it. That’s okay though – we had 14 salvations this week – we just don’t know where they went.

In the early ’70’s there was Hippie Jesus – a Jesus that didn’t mind the drugs and the orgies because he was our un-questioning friend and would never harsh our vibe.

In the ’80’s through today ATM Jesus came on the scene – this Jesus primary concern was that we should be rich. Sow and reap – that is all you have to do.

There is the blonde-haired blue-eyed Jesus from the pictures that hung in our grandparents or great-grandparents house. I have seen pictures of black Jesus, Asian Jesus, Mexiacan Jesus and so on.

There is the Great example Jesus – that serves as role model on how we should live our lives – that is when it is convenient – but when we are more confident in our surroundings we don’t need to lean on him so much and he is out of our minds.

There is the Cultural thanks Jesus – the Jesus that gets thanked at awards shows and sporting events. The one that gets thanked by the artist whose music is full of pornographic imagery, objectification of women and obscenity. Bono referred to these people at an award show one night when he said “God is looking down and saying “Don’t thank me for that””

There is also invisible Jesus – the Jesus that some Churches fail to talk about. They can have worship services and messages without ever mentioning his name or his word.

There is NRA Jesus that carries a .45 on his hip while directing wars.

There is left-wing bleeding heart Jesus that has only a concern for caring for the social ills of society.

With so many Jesus’s being portrayed the world is surely confused about who he is.

But do we really know? Have we found out for ourselves? Who do we say he is? Do we know what the Bible really says about Jesus or many of the other events or have we just taken common knowledge that is wrong and gone on from there?

Turn to Jeremiah 10:2

At Christmas time do we think that there were 3 wise men (actually we have no idea how many there were), we think that how ever many wise men there were showed up at the manger in Bethlehem ( nope, they most likely didn’t get there from following the star till Jesus was 1 or 2 years old ), we think that December 25^th is Jesus Birthday which in all likelihood it isn’t.

Many Christmas customs come from pagan rituals – take for example the Christmas tree.

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. (Jer 10:2)

For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. (Jer 10:3)

They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. (Jer 10:4)

I’m not here to tell you not to have a Christmas tree – what I am saying is that some things that it can’t be Christmas without, actually come from pagan rituals and we don’t even know it. The tree comes from them, the date comes from them…

We believe the common story that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose on Sunday and try to align it with Jesus own words that contradict it – For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Mat 12:40)

Go to John 19:31

We don’t dig deep enough to discover that even though Jesus was crucified the day before the Sabbath – the day before the Sabbath is usually a Friday, that is if it is a regular sabbath. Look in – The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (John 19:31) It was passover week and the special feast days or high days were also referred to as Sabbaths and Jesus was crucified the day before that sabbath – not the regular sabbath – letting what he said about being in the earth for 3 days and 3 nights also be true.

Noah didn’t have just 2 of each animal on the ark .

The forbidden fruit Adam and Ave ate probably wasn’t an apple.

Jesus spoke in parables not to help people understand what he was saying but to keep people from understanding.

Mar 4:10-12 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. (11) And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: (12) That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

I have said all I have said so far to reach this – we need to open our minds to finding the truth. If we lean on all we think we know already – if we pick up our theology from the culture whether it be what the world thinks about Jesus, what you learned in Sunday school, what we sung in praise and worship songs – instead of being a searcher – then we are sure to miss the truth of Jesus – the whole view of who Jesus is and what he wants for each of us individually, and corporately as LifeQuest to achieve. Because if all we see is a distorted and incorrect view then the decisions we make as a result are sure to be wrong.

I recently finished reading  Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” which got me to thinking about some things.  There were some things I really like about parts of the philosophies she espouses but she goes over the top and takes it too far.  The part that really got me thinking though was the 50 page or so speech by the John Galt character in which he attacks two types of people as being the cause of major problems of man.  The two types are the mystics of muscle and the mystics of the spiritual – both of which he accuses of seeking to enslave the mind of man.

This has set me to thinking about what he refers to as the mystics of the spiritual and what the truth really is.  There is no doubt that there have been so-called spiritual leaders through the years and today that do what they do for personal financial gain or power – yet this is still not what my search is for.

What I really want to look at is what is man created to be.  What did God have in mind when he created us and what is our current nature – the nature of the saved and the unsaved man?  What if anything does a man owe other men because of their common humanity?

If I really want to know the answer I need to dig into the Bible without preconceived notions of the outcome to really see what the answer is.

Before I start I wonder if any of you have any input on what you think I will find.

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What is Holiness?  The first instance of holy in the Bible is this:

And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.  (Exo 3:5)

And all the variations of Holy in the Old Testament derive from this Hebrew word.

H6942
????
qa?dash
kaw-dash’
A primitive root; to be (causatively make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): – appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy (-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify (-ied one, self), X wholly.

In the New Testament they are derived from:

G40
???????
hagios
hag’-ee-os
From ?????? hagos (an awful thing) compare G53, [H2282]; sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated): – (most) holy (one, thing), saint.

So, like I said when I started this, what exactly is it to be Holy or to model Holiness?  Some people would think that to dedicate themselves to their church – to go when the doors are open and to volunteer in the nursery and sing in the choir and do whatever else their church needs puts them on a road to holiness.  But I don’t think this makes them holy – the Pharisees were at least as dedicated as that and there was something in them that with all the rules and dedication and ceremony still kept them from being holy.

Some people would say that to separate themselves from the world will make them holy.  They can be separated from the world with all appearance of holiness while having none.  Jesus was holy, yet he had a lot of interaction with the world.

What I get from the Hebrew and Greek words from the Bible is that we are to be “clean” and morally blameless.  That sounds all well and good and we are probably a bit further along in figuring this out than we were when we started but now we need to figure out what it means to be “clean” and morally blameless.

…to be continued…

I hate gnats.  For a while I lived in Statesboro which is well into the gnat zone.  They aren’t like they are in Macon where you get a few sometimes – down there they travel in clouds and as they pass your head they try to crawl through your tear ducts, in your nose and fly into your ears.  There isn’t much that can stop them (other than moving to nice gnat-free areas of the country).  Thus, I hate gnats.

Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.  (Mat 23:24)

Today Churchianity looks at externals and has all their rules to make you appear to be a good little Christian.  Don’t doubt that there is a hierarchy of rules that would make any Pharisee proud.  It is more important to not drink, smoke, or be rude than many other things – thus we allow the gnats to obfuscate the real problems.

God has been dealing with me about superficiality since we have been preparing LifeQuest Church.  We have taken part of a building that hasn’t been used for several years and made it look pretty good.  There is all new ceiling tiles, new paint, and other things to help fulfill some modern Church expectations.  Granted, everything we have done has been necessary and God has blessed us in doing so, but just as trying to make sure we act right and look like presentable little Christians on Sunday morning……but something is wrong. When the rains come some of our pretty little ceiling tiles start showing big nasty water stains.  Everything looks good, but our building has some hidden faults that are exposed under the right circumstances.

Churchianity wants to make sure we look like good little Christians and tries to pretend that there aren’t any faults – that everything is ok under our perfect veneers.  Jesus wants to fix the hidden faults and let it show through to the outside.  Jesus cares that we are caught up in sexual sin whether it be sexual relationships outside of marriage, lust, pornography, homosexuality and wants to free us from desires that enslave us.   Jesus cares about our addictions – our dependences – nicotine, alcohol, drugs, activities, relationships and he wants to free us from those that ensnare us.

Maybe we should be Jesus rather than a pharisee on Sunday Morning (and other times too) and care less about the outside – those annoying little gnat issues that block us from seeing the camels – the issues that Jesus is really trying to fix.  We become distracted by how people look, act, dress, smell and how they act rather than seeing beyond  – seeing the person inside that is coming to us looking for a relationship with the Living God of The Universe – looking to us that say we know him and can introduce them to him – looking to us that sometimes decide that the person looking is unworthy in our eyes to be introduced to that God.

maybe I shouldn’t be as bothered by the gnats………..

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I saw the movie “Taken” last night. (I know I am way behind the curve on getting around to seeing it). What a good movie – but also makes you think about a couple of things.

Look at the depravity of the heart of man – that man has fallen so far as to traffic in the lives of others to satisfy their greed.  They could do legitimate things – but their fallen nature is so twisted, so perverted, so far from where it should be that it appears they have no conscience and not a feeling bone in their body.  Don’t kid yourselves into thinking that sex trafficking is not happening in our country – if not even in our own towns.

One other thing that stood out is how her father would do anything to rescue her – willing to risk his own in very dangerous situations to bring his daughter back to him.  This week after Easter it still reminds me that Jesus didn’t just risk his life – he walked into certain torture and death to carry out his rescue of us.

A quick thought,
Steve

I posted this originally on my Facebook blog and it got a lot of response.  Had people thinking of Backseat Drivers, roadrage, etc

I do a lot of driving. Besides living in Monroe County and working,
going to Church and almost everything else in Macon; my job has me
driving 2-3 days a week up to Marietta to work at Dobbins Air Reserve
Base. Besides that, the company I work for has a contract that can on
any given day have me driving to the Florida state line, near any of
the other surrounding states or anywhere in between. The point of all
that is to say – I do a lot of driving – and it occurred to me that in
some ways some Christians are like bad drivers.

CONSTANT TURN SIGNAL CLICKER – This Christian sees the signs of the
times in everything and points it out to everyone. Not just about
earthquakes, famines, and war but they see the signs in a local traffic
accident and other mundane events.

THE SLOW DRIVER – The Christian equivalent to this driver is the person
who won’t move from their current place or do anything new unless God
tells them to do it. They haven’t figured out that God has already
given them a lot of direction in the word and insist that they get
direction for everything they do from God.

SLOW DRIVER (BLUE HAIR VERSION) - There is another type of slow driver
and those are the people that insist that we can never do anything
different from the way that we have always done it. They will threaten
to withhold their time and giving to keep something new from coming to
their church.

THE SPEEDER – You have seen them blow through your church. From unsaved
visitor to the emotional saving event to eager volunteer to burned out
and gone in a matter of weeks.

THE SWERVER – Never content with a church for more than a month or two
they speed through and are off to the next one – sometimes leaving
chaos in their wake.

THE RUBBERNECKER – Is there for the show and to be entertained. The
word is not as important as the presentation. This person thrives in a
church with a lot of behind the scenes drama and controversy.

I think there is a little bit of some of these in a lot of us – the
trick is to realize when we are being a bad driver and then correct it.

These are all the ones I come come up with off the top of my head – are there any others you can think of?

And a little bit of video humor -

As many of you know, my Dad died suddenly this week.  It was last Tuesday – a bright, sunny February day.  I was at work and he was running a daily errand for my sister.  As he performed a simple daily task he had an Aortic Aneurysm and died while driving down the road.

As I have thought of the events the last few days I first confront my failure to do what I believe I should have been doing and I also have to examine the frailty of life itself.  I can easily reason with myself and excuse myself for our relationship. I can say that our personalities are similar in some ways – the main way in that we were both fairly quiet people and though we got along and I respected him greatly – many of our conversations were plagued with uncomfortable silences.  My Dad and Mom divorced when I was fairly young and I could use that as an excuse.

What I can’t use as excuses are what he has done – the weekend visits and car rides, going to Falcons and Flames games with him when I was a teen. Also letting me live with him during my senior year of High School rather than me having to leave my friends and move to a different town when my Mom and Step Dad moved to Macon. The meals he has bought.  The money he loaned me to get me through some tough times in college.  I missed seeing him two Fridays ago when I was in the same county because my job went a little long and I didn’t want to get home too late.

Life is so frail

An aneurysm, a heart attack, a car wreck can suddenly snatch the ones we love from this life.  Or sometimes lingering diseases like cancer can slowly steal the life from them.  Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed for us to die once – it is something that we will all do and we need to take advantage of every moment we have.

There are a few things that I urge each one of you to do.

Cover you loved ones in prayer.

Take care of what you can do to protect your life – lose weight, exercise, etc.

Make the most of the minutes you have with family and friends.

See what mission God has for you today.

With Some Regrets,  Steve

We all know that we have one – a dream that is.

…and most of us have not treated it very well.