Chicken soup: It's in there!

     Today I listened to a good preacher, preaching on the cleansing of the temple.  Three times a year in Jewish Law the people would go up to Jerusalem and the temple and present themselves to God.  They of course would bring their sacrifice ( one without blemish) and the Priest would perform the rite of sacrifice and atonement for that particular individual or families sins for the year.  The temple had and inner court and an outer court. The outer court was reserved for  "gentiles"  or those outside Jewish law. It was there they could also offer sacrifice to God.  Of course Jesus being a Jew and following the law, he came upon the temple and was seized with a zealousness and rage because of the money changers and merchandise being sold in the house of God.  He cleansed his fathers house.  "My father's house is a house of prayer and you make it a den of theives and robbers!"  In other words sin was present in the house of God.
     The same goes for us today.  We are steeped in our sins from birth.  We cannot help it, or avoid it, it is what it is!
      We are like chicken soup everything, necks, gizzards, fat and grisle are in their.  Though it makes the soup taste good....we strain it out later for our benefit of not eating anything yucky!  
     So we when we are before our God he sees our true self our sins that are ever before him and he requires we also like the temple be cleansed before he will have anything to do with us.  We are his temple, the place he longs to dwell in now.  And he can, provided we do it his way!   Anything that is our way and not Christ is essentially against Christ or Anti- Christ.....Get that...?  Our way is not God's way.  So turning ourselves away from our way is  basically a repentance and a doorway for God to enter in and start a cleansing process that can last and should last for our entire lives.  The things that stick to us over the course of time that we have involved ourself with, drugs, alcohols, sex, and lieing and so many other "self" things can and do get God's attention. He wants us better and put together in a healthy lifestyle.
    So we do not have to be in the "Court of the Gentiles" forever out of the reach of God but can enter into his rest and receive of him his blessings and benefits of a good life, here and now.  Yum. Chicken soup! free from Yuck! 
   

Skin deep, bone deep, "The Law"

      Pardner! This here town ain't big enough for you n' me.  I'm the Sherrif here and your breakin the law!  The old west themes of rough and ready sherrifs, Wyatt Earp vs. the Clantons... the O.K. corral and right vs might.  Law prevails.
   
     Robin Hood steals from the rich and gives to the poor, a law unto himself reversing the role, the Sherrif of Nottingham who is himself a law unto himself and is unjust and corrupt.

"Off with her head," says King Henry the Vlll, as he merrily executes his 1st wife in defiance of the Pope and makes the Church his own The Church of England. Self rule over God's.

Judge Roy Bean of the old west rules with a rope, hanging those he deems unfit and law breaking. Justifying his actions with swift and cruel justice.

The United States is a Democracy and the largest in the modern world, a country where "the rule of law" is held high.  Ingrained from birth we obey laws until the day we die some ambigous, some we don't even know exist. Speed in your car get a ticket, park in the wrong place pay a fine.  Emminent Domain....here's a foggy one.. you can lose your home to a large corporation if it's in the interest of 'progress' or a highway going thru.


     Skin deep and bone deep are the laws we live with daily. So how come the invisible ones the ancient ones go unheeded?  Ones that set morality in the heart, are they moveable, shiftable at our convienence?  Are they  the ones to shift at a moment's notice for our own self interest?  Do they infact convict anymore to influence the course of individuals lives to stay a true course?  Wall Street, big banking, Enron, mortgage and hedge fund managers all stuffed with people who were tempted to stray with the delusions of not getting caught. Morals that slid into "off limits zones of conduct but nevertheless they went anyway.  Thousands  were affected by those who used sub par standards to lend money to those who could not afford it.  This country bankrupted and millions left without jobs, income and homes.   Did they suffer?  You bet. Is the average person stung wary and maybe a little scared? Yes.  Can we even trust elected officials anymore to carry out what once was an honorable position to hold? Elected office was designed to represent the common  people.
     Only a few short years ago this country went all out for hope....in a man many thought would change things only to have suffered setback after setback with partisan squabbling all played out in the nations media outlets.  End runs around congress were made and necessary because men would not give to one another. Our legislators or" law makers" stuck in neutral for years to frustrate one another's agendas.  While those who work 9-5 faithfully  toil daily day after day hoping that things like the ones mentioned don't rock the boat of their lives.
      Law exists Pauls says to  "show the strength of sin", in otherwords it magnifies our weakness in doing the right thing.  Blood of goats and bulls could never cover transgression of the law.  Only grace as it is poured out from Christ covers us, redeems us and makes things "right".

     In all of 6,000 years of law one event stands paramount above all others............Forgiveness of our law breaking (sin) and of going our own way.....
 
      13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who  obey the law who will be declared righteous. 




     1415 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, 


                    (The Gentiles)  or anyone who takes a stand morally  were not under the law..................but were a law unto themselves..........
   

CROSSROADS

                               “Stand at the crossroads and look;
                                                ask for the ancient paths,
                                ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
             
                                and you will find rest for your soul. 
                                                

                               “Set up road signs;
                                                put up guideposts.
                                Take note of the highway,
                                                the road that you take

     There comes a point I believe in all of our lives that we stand at the crossroads, two points in time and place where we make a crucial decision. This decision is almost always a hard one.  A hard one because most of the time we are in a place of being comfortable and maybe unwilling to change but perhaps there is a deeper calling or yearning inside that forces this decision.  
  Take for example the movie Castaway.   After being castaway for 5 or more years Tom Hanks ( the actor) portraying that man who is lost, seeks meaning and a deeper sense of life after suffering immense loss.  Unable to return to his love or his former life he returns a fed-ex package he had held with him on that deserted island and finds the address and places it on the door step and leaves.  Ironically on the package are two depicted angel wings. Driving away the scene shifts upward and a vista of plains and of roads crossing and then long nothingness.  Unable to decide which way to go he gets out of his car and stands at the crossroads trying to decide which way to go, and then he meets some stranger a woman, casually talks and then watches her drive away and on the back bumper there shown are angel wings!  First on the package, second at the farm he delivered the package to and third on the truck these wings appeared to him.
    Needless to say he has found that the decision may be divine or so implied and heads in the direction of the stranger and we leave the movie with a sense of completeness.
     Oh! if only life's decisions were as easy at that!  In Christ I think we all get a chance to stand at some crossroad and ask the question, which way now? And why?  If we are those who trust in a God that showed himself incarnate and then rose from the dead for us then we can also believe that he can lead us in the paths he wants us to travel on.  The lines of scripture above tell us to "seek the ancient paths where the good way is." and walk in it.  The Israelites often marked their way with stones and they were not to be removed so that passing generations would see the way their ancestors came.  It was for a reason.    The times God had shown himself faithful to the nation and people he had chosen for himself  they then responded with the only thanksgiving they could with landmarks to remind them of former things.  Because they could forget.  
   It would always point to the way they had come. 
     Today we can be led of the Holy Spirit and sometimes it is not so easy to follow, either because we are settled (Or Not) and change comes harder than no change at all.   
       If we stay were we are we run the risk of stagnation like a slow pool of water with little or no movement.  Things grow and not necessarily good things.  I think God keeps up moving.  Think Caleb  and Joshua, old men who never stopped until they literally passed on at ages above 100 years but were still vigorous.  That's what I want too.
     So I stand at the crossroads like Tom Hanks, and I wait... to see which way to go. Go, I must.

Elements: Basics of a Healthy Christian

1.)     Doctrine must be sound: Christ must be risen: Repentance is first and foremost and a belief in turning away from our own ways and to his.“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah."

2.) Second Baptism: Must be done and acknowledged and a performance before the brothers and sisters of Christ, symbolizes going into Christ's grave and rising again a new creation in Christ. We must "come as we are to him." There are no works to enter into him. We enter into his rest. Grace as Paul taught.
 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance." Jn 3:11

3.) Acceptance of this new life and a relearning how to live unto Christ and not to ourselves. Embracing the word and doing his commands; as Jesus tought, we love one another as he loved us first.

4.) This is how we know that we are his;  "That we love one another."12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."

5.) There is and can be a laying on of hands and reception of the Holy Spirit to the new beliver. Waiting on Christ and he will fill those who seek for it. This is an observable and tangible happening for all believers.
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans."

6.) Praying in the Spirit of this new language (tongues) and also praying with my "Mind" as Paul taught in Corinthians.7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

7.) Praying without ceasing, (in other words: always imersing oneself in the Spirit in daily life and seeking God for his wisdom.

8.) Learning how to be content in any and all situations

9.) Being Non judgemental as a Christian,   "innocent as a dove but wise as a serpent."

10.) Seeking the welfare of others first "washing each others feet" (not necessarily an act) but inwardly also as Christ washed his disciples. (sanctifying one another) Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

11.) Visiting the sick, the imprisoned, feeding the poor, waking out our salvation in our actions shows our faith. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

12.) Recognizing light and dark (within the Church itself discerning your brother and sister "who are they" do they do what they say? "Not all who say Lord,Lord" are who they say they are according to Jesus; " I never knew you." Those who are mine continue in my word." Discernment

13.) Giving of oneself

14.)Understanding that the "Letter killeth but the Spirit gives life. Not  turning to law or works to fulfill our calling. "Colossians."

15.) Understanding what we came from and where we are going.6 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,[a] and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites,[b] the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.

16.)Not Lording over one another or in "Christianaese"....speaking something into anothers life that may be totally wrong and inappropriate. Having a sense of right  balance, does that person want your advice? Are you that person that can give it? Are you close enough to that person to see their need? If not back off.

17.) Again sound Doctrines    Repentance from our own works
                                        Salvation in Christ He is risen and Alive evermore: there is only one                                                    way “I am the way and the truth and the life.                                                                         
                                                 Baptism
                                                 Reception of The  Holy Spirit
                                                  Understanding and walking it out
                                                    Reading the word
                                                     Forsaking not the assembly of Saints
                                                      Resurrection:13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformedabout those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Footnotes:

                                                        
                                                     
                                                     

"Quod Scripsi,Scripsi"

                                                                          Passover morning:

     I awoke earlier  today than I wanted to.  The sounds of much human traffic outside my window provoking me out of my sleep.  My bed was already empty as my wife had arisen early in the morning. Apparently she couldn't sleep well either.  Today, "The Gods be cursed, he muttered. Passover!" 

 Looking down at the massing crowds his stomach tightened and his brow furrowed thinking of the impending riots to be quelled today.  

     'Prefect of Judea', was my official title and duties, administrative in the Roman republic, one of which meant subduing these rebellious people I governed. Taxes and rebellions seemed to take all of my time here in this small distant and dustpatch of land in our great and glorious Roman Republic.  

     I turned and closed the window coverings and headed towards my eating chambers and sat and mulled over the day.  My wife visible in the distance of our spacious quarters seemed distracted. I motioned to her and she came to my side.  After talking I found that she was greatly disturbed by a dream depicting a one called Jesus.  Seems she had "revelation" to leave this man alone. 

     "Shall I, as prefect bend to this vision of yours?  Shall I also subject myself the the many superstitions of this land and it's people and now include yours as well?  Nonsense!  I was troubled but did not care to show it.

     I rose and walked away, quartering myself in my study, I dressed for the day. Gathering my robes, rings and light armor I was fully of a mind to forget anything of what my wife said to me.  The voices below echoed hollow in my hallway bringing to mind again what day this was.  

   Centurions were now banging at my door, furiously wanting entrance to my house.  Usually they were circumspect owing to my perceived authority but not today.  

     "Prefect! they shouted we have need of you now! Please come out and see!"

     Opening up the door I was confronted with a man, a Jew in between two of  my Centurions staring me in the face.  

    " It only the first hour of the day! And I have just barely finished eating my first meal and you bring me a stranger to my house!"

     "It's the Jews, prefect, they want you to rule on this man."  He is their King and has broken their law and Caesars by his claims!"

     "King?  Have they crowned a King, without my knowledge? Surely you are mistaken! I have heard of no such thing. Take him away."

     "Prefect, the crowds grow riotus, and they will not leave until you rule on this man. They will protest to Caesar if they do not get satisfaction!"

        I knotted up inside, it has already started.  "Very well, leave me and this man outside I will rule in one hour!"  I closed the heavy doors and wanted dearly to be free of this decision.  His eyes, eyes that were so serene and full of a certain depth made me wonder.  "He was their King?" dressed in no attire that would suggest royalty or any standing at all he stood mute before me. I startled as I turned, my wife had come up behind me  quietly.

      "Leave this man in peace, I told you, now you are involved in their squabbles!"

"Yes, Yes I know.  One hour and it will be over. I assure you it will not continue to ruin this day!"

     I walked slowly and returned to the room still cloaked in darkness,the  morning sun had not reached yet.  I sat and waited trying to relax before I presented my self to their inevitable insults.  

     I turned, dipped my hands in the bronze laver and then dried them carefully and quite openly infront of all those before me.  "Here is the man!"

  I instructed those who led him, to  prepare a sign and mount it atop the cross. It was over......

                                                           

                                                              'KING of THE JEWS'

                                                             "QUOD SCRIPSI,SCRIPSI"

     

     

     

There is a side of truth to choose:

                                         
                                    " Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”




20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message." "in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God."

                                     38 “What is truth
     

     There is a side to choose to be on , there always will be.  From our earliest times as a child we are taught from the beginning to "choose up."  Borrowing a phrase from baseball we choose exactly where and when, how and why we make the decisions we do.  (I was sometimes the last to pe picked for a team!)
So even with weighty issues facing us we always have a choice to make.
     Making a choice in the name of religion seems to be the heavy. And in doing so we align ourselves on a side of "righteousness" that may or may not be correct!  Pilate was forced to make a deliberation on the fate of Jesus. His famous "What is truth" still rings out to us and remains to this day a line for posterity.  Saved for us to possibly mull over for ourselves what this means.
     Peter out of fear for his life denied Jesus rather quickly in the midst of those who were prepared to judge him and judge him harshly.  He knew there was murder in the hearts of those who were questioning Jesus.  Jesus told them so many times over and he had just finished telling his disciples that they would also be persecuted.  "No servant is greater than his master."  So they were warned.  Are we also warned today?  Do these words still ring true? Or are we numb to these words after all these years? 
    Do we even know any more what is the side of truth to be on?  Take the Jihadists', they kill for the belief that they are doing "God a Favor." as Jesus predicted.So there is no second guessing their motives and that makes fighting them so difficult and hard to eradicate. There will always be converts to a side.  The twenty-something American who blew himself up two weeks ago was led very far astray  and believed a lie. Why? It is because the Prince of this world whom Jesus defeated...blinded him and twisted the truth along with all those who cannot see.  
    We only have a victory over these types of things when we believe that Jesus did indeed defeat and overcome the world,  If we do not embrace this then there is absolutely no power in anything we do.  " Without me Ye can do nothing." Quoted from the word.  So if we choose sides on "issues" then we align ourselves with that issue whether right or wrong. Some of these issues are benign some are not. We make the choice.
     So if we can believe the words of Jesus even today then we can be assured we have aligned ourself with" the side of truth."
     The evidence is overwhelming that the Man Jesus did indeed exist and is written about in history as well as those men and women entrusted with the good news of the Gospel.  They were eye witnesses of those times and events and we can entrust ourselves to believe in.The choice is then ours to make. Unfortunately so many times I am afraid the message is lost in some of the ways it is presentd to us. There was a happening after the Jewish Pentecost. 
The outouring of the Holy Spirit given to those who belived in the "Name of Jesus." Jesus had been taken away and was no longer seen.  His death on the cross all but gave the certainty that death prevailed once again.But the evidence of the Holy Spirit in the Disciples overuled that death and all but proved that Jesus rose again and poured out the "Advocate" (or one who is for us) on our behalf.  Those who do not believe in infilling and the new language of tongues as evidenced by the speaking of it deny the power of the Spirit given.  This was simply "Immanuel" God with us playing out before our very eyes.  It is not an arrogance to hold this stance of belief. It only becomes so when others use it to brow beat doctrines into others and make it hard for those to come to know the mercy of the one who gives it out of love. It was to be  a helper and a reminder of Jesus himself (poured into us) and all that he did for those who began a new labor in the birth of the Church, Paul, Peter John and all the others who lost their lives...executed  by those ...".doing a service to God"
     

    







     

Kill Him! Really ? Are You So blind?

     10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

  

     Who were these men that were plotting the death of Lazarus?  The man had just been raised from the dead!  (Days earlier) and now reclining in peace with his sisters and Jesus and his disciples!  These men so hard, of heart, deaf of hearing and eyes so crusted over with their sin they could not see Jesus for who he was!  Stupid? No, but full of fear of their loss of their positional standing. They must have been, here was a man that stumbles out of a dark cave with grave wrappings still on him coming into the light in front of the Lord of life himself and the news was enough to" cause many to follow him to Bethany!"  Yet instead of glorying in God for the miracle of life they plotted to kill him and Jesus.  Religion kills, the letter kills, the Spirit that resides in all who believe in Jesus will raise those the same way Lazarus was and the same way Jesus took up his life again after three days of darkness, descension in Hell, freeing the captives of Satan and rising to heavenly places.  
     Glory to God!, Glory to God! should have been their response!  Instead they were full of fear of losing their positional standings, hard of heart and an eye towards murder!  Lovely, warm and converted people they were! 

      So here we are in the last days awaiting Jesus's return, how will the many religious of our day react?  Will it be the same?  Will there be fear and an eye towards murder? Or will there be mass repentance at his coming?
     
       Joy for those who know his voice, unfortunate judgement for those who resisted the calls.