The Big Story of God
Week Two: God’s Blessing/Man’s Responsibility
Today’s Verse to Memorize- Genesis 1:28
One of the Bible’s primary themes are clearly laid out in this verse. What are the two themes?
Genesis 1:28- What does God do for mankind? What command does He give mankind here? Why do you think God wants mankind to “fill the earth?”
Genesis 9:1- What did God tell Noah?
Genesis 11:1-9- How is man breaking God’s commandment here? What does God do because of man’s disobedience?
What does this account tell us about God achieving His ultimate will?
Psalm 67- Is it okay to pray for yourself? What do you want to do if God blesses you?
For centuries men and women have prayed that God will bless America? Has He blessed the U.S.? According to Psalm 67, why has He blessed our country?
Has God blessed you? What does God want you to do with those blessings?
“As we journey through the Bible we will discover the parallel nature of the two themes of blessing and God’s purpose/man’s responsibility. The pitfall is failing to keep these two themes in their parallel tension. Our tendency is to see God’s blessings disconnected from His purpose. That perspective will create an egocentric faith.”- Jeff Lewis
How can God use this information for our transformation?
“What are we here for, to have a good time with the Christians or to save sinners?”- Malla Moe
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Big Story of God: Week One
The Big Story of God
Week One: God’s Purpose/Man’s Responsibility
Today’s Verse to Memorize- Genesis 1:27
How to read the Bible to best understand HIStory…
Isaiah 43:25- Why does God forgive and forget?
Hebrews 6:17- What does the “eternal nature of His purpose mean?”
Genesis 1:27- What do you think it means that mankind was created “with the image of God?”
Ezekiel 20:5-14- What was God’s offer to Israel? What was Israel’s response?
Life, existence, everything is for God’s glory. Now the question is, what can we do to glorify Him?
“GLORY. Throughout the ages books have been written to declare its meaning. It seems so transcendent to me that I cower from trying to understand it. Consider the following: It is the splendor, majesty, honor, and reputation of God. Glory (noun) is used to describe the power of God. The Hebrew word most often translated glory in the Old Testament is ‘kabad,’ to be heavy, weighty, honored. It is the weightiness of the presence of the holy and majestic God. God’s glory is the self –manifestation of God’s character, attributes, and actions as he invades human reality. Also, we glorify (verb) God as God manifests Himself in us, through our words and actions.” –Jeff Lewis
What kind of actions glorify Him?
1 Corinthians 6:20
1 Corinthians 10:31
1 Peter 4:11
1 Peter 4:16
Matthew 5:14-16
How can God use this information for our transformation?
“The presence of God became unutterably real and blessed, and I remember… stretching myself on the ground and lying there before Him with unspeakable awe and unspeakable joy. For what service I was accepted I knew not, but a deep consciousness that I was not my own took possession of me which has never since been effaced.” – J. Hudson Taylor
Week One: God’s Purpose/Man’s Responsibility
Today’s Verse to Memorize- Genesis 1:27
How to read the Bible to best understand HIStory…
Isaiah 43:25- Why does God forgive and forget?
Hebrews 6:17- What does the “eternal nature of His purpose mean?”
Genesis 1:27- What do you think it means that mankind was created “with the image of God?”
Ezekiel 20:5-14- What was God’s offer to Israel? What was Israel’s response?
Life, existence, everything is for God’s glory. Now the question is, what can we do to glorify Him?
“GLORY. Throughout the ages books have been written to declare its meaning. It seems so transcendent to me that I cower from trying to understand it. Consider the following: It is the splendor, majesty, honor, and reputation of God. Glory (noun) is used to describe the power of God. The Hebrew word most often translated glory in the Old Testament is ‘kabad,’ to be heavy, weighty, honored. It is the weightiness of the presence of the holy and majestic God. God’s glory is the self –manifestation of God’s character, attributes, and actions as he invades human reality. Also, we glorify (verb) God as God manifests Himself in us, through our words and actions.” –Jeff Lewis
What kind of actions glorify Him?
1 Corinthians 6:20
1 Corinthians 10:31
1 Peter 4:11
1 Peter 4:16
Matthew 5:14-16
How can God use this information for our transformation?
“The presence of God became unutterably real and blessed, and I remember… stretching myself on the ground and lying there before Him with unspeakable awe and unspeakable joy. For what service I was accepted I knew not, but a deep consciousness that I was not my own took possession of me which has never since been effaced.” – J. Hudson Taylor
Monday, February 9, 2009
Can Someone "On Mission" Fail?
I was thinking about this passage earlier today...
24I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. 26For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. 28When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. 29I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. -Romans 15:24-29
I love the fact that in verses 24 and 28 Paul reveals his longterm plan of bringing the gospel to Spain. I love two things about this. First, Paul clearly understood his divine trajectory. Paul says in a couple of verses before these... "thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation..." (vs. 20) No one had started a church in Spain yet and Paul was designed to take the message of Christ's love to new spiritual frontiers. There was no better place then Spain. Paul was the man. He knew what God had created him to do and he made his travel plans based on that.
The second thing that I love about this passage is that Paul probably never made it to Spain. This is debatable, but I believe Paul believed he was to serve in Spain, but never made it past Rome. If my theory, and many other's is true, then was God wrong in telling Paul to go to Spain or was Paul wrong in wanting to go someone place God didn't want him? The fatalist would say the latter. I say both of those choices are incorrect.
In the great hall of faith chapter of Hebrews it says, "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised..." (11:13) Knowing what God's divine trajectory for your life is doesn't mean that anyone failed if that trajectory isn't hit on the bulls eye. It looks like to me God told Paul to go where there were no churches. Because of that reason and probably a few more, Paul set his sites on Spain. Through being arrested, tried, and probably put to death that goal wasn't met. But, here's the kicker, Paul advanced the gospel by witnessing to big time government officials, his personal watchguards, and by writing a bulk of the New Testament. Wish I could "fail" like that.
24I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. 26For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. 28When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. 29I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. -Romans 15:24-29
I love the fact that in verses 24 and 28 Paul reveals his longterm plan of bringing the gospel to Spain. I love two things about this. First, Paul clearly understood his divine trajectory. Paul says in a couple of verses before these... "thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation..." (vs. 20) No one had started a church in Spain yet and Paul was designed to take the message of Christ's love to new spiritual frontiers. There was no better place then Spain. Paul was the man. He knew what God had created him to do and he made his travel plans based on that.
The second thing that I love about this passage is that Paul probably never made it to Spain. This is debatable, but I believe Paul believed he was to serve in Spain, but never made it past Rome. If my theory, and many other's is true, then was God wrong in telling Paul to go to Spain or was Paul wrong in wanting to go someone place God didn't want him? The fatalist would say the latter. I say both of those choices are incorrect.
In the great hall of faith chapter of Hebrews it says, "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised..." (11:13) Knowing what God's divine trajectory for your life is doesn't mean that anyone failed if that trajectory isn't hit on the bulls eye. It looks like to me God told Paul to go where there were no churches. Because of that reason and probably a few more, Paul set his sites on Spain. Through being arrested, tried, and probably put to death that goal wasn't met. But, here's the kicker, Paul advanced the gospel by witnessing to big time government officials, his personal watchguards, and by writing a bulk of the New Testament. Wish I could "fail" like that.
Friday, February 6, 2009
My New Favorite Word
I've been informed by several people recently that my new favorite word is "trajectory". Apparently, I'm using it a lot. I can't help it. There's a lot of power in the understanding of trajectory.
A few months ago I was hanging out with a good friend at Starbucks. My friend was telling me about how unhappy he was with his life. His marriage was great, his kids were doing very well, he had a good job, but something was missing. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he felt like he wasn't fully alive. What was missing?We've had this conversation a couple of times. I love my boy, but I finally decided to go a little hard core on him. I asked him two questions. First, what had God designed him to do with his life? I know he's wrestled with this and had been slow in going public with his divine design. But this time we had the conversation something was different. Without missing a beat he told me that God had designed him to be a church leader, what we would call a "pastor". Great, so now we both know what God's ministry destination is for my friend. My second question was a little tougher to answer. I asked my friend to tell me about his current trajectory to reach this destination. This stumbled him. After a few awkward attempts to answer the question he came clean. God had shown him where to go, but he was not doing anything to arrive. His trajectory was leading him in a different direction. No wonder he wasn't feeling fully alive.
This idea of trajectory has become personally important to me. My divine design is to help churches get started and established. When you arrive in a new city, you are very, very far away from achieving the goal. But, the key is to know your trajectory to reach the goal. What do you do on the first day to propel you down the right road? How about after your first major setback? The key is knowing where God wants you to end up and what you can do today to help get there. Sounds simple...but that's about all you can do.
Biblically, there are many examples of the importance of divine trajectory. The one that comes to mind first is the historic account of Abraham in Genesis 12. God told Abraham that he would be the leader of a vast nation that would be a blessing to all nations. Abraham wasn't anywhere close to seeing this as a viable reality. But, divine trajectory required him to leave his home and everything he knew. The Bible says, "so he left, as God had told him". He knew where God wanted him to be, now he had to shove off and live to get there. Maybe you're struggling with the present reality of your life. Let me ask you the same to questions I asked my friend. 1) What's the divine design for your life? 2) Is your current trajectory carrying you there?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
And The Youth Shall Lead Them
Every youth generation gets a bad rap. Doesn't matter if it's 1709 or 2009, the adults in charge will not like the music, clothes, vibe, or actions of that generation's youth culture.
Today, of course, is no different. Almost daily I hear some old dude (this means anyone over 30) rail on the evil teens/college students. I keep thinking that I must be doing something wrong. The more I watch and learn from today's youth, the more impressed I am. I would love for today's church leaders to take notes on how important relationships, community, and connecting are to teens and young twenty somethings. Actually, it seems like these things are held as their highest value.
Usually, the grumpy old man rant begins by talking about how young people constantly update their facebook or myspace pages and can only communicate with a cell phone in hand. Do a little digging and you find out that they love to keep everyone in the loop of what is going on in their lives. They have an unexplainable desire to know what all of their friends are doing at every waking second. I love it! Community isn't something that ends when you leave someone's presence, but its something that you strive to develop even when you are on vacation, alone in your bedroom, or wherever you might find yourself.
I also love the authenticity of our youth culture. It wigs old folks (again, anyone over 30) out when they see the personal information that the next generation leaders so freely post on public sites. They don't care who knows that they broke up with their boyfriend or are feeling depressed. Its almost like someone forgot to teach them that they are supposed to put on the mask of happiness and keep everyone at an arm's length. I wish the church and especially her leaders could be so vulnerable and open.
(Before anyone says it, I understand boundaries for our teens. I'm not talking about specific safety boundaries, but generational generalities.)
Today, of course, is no different. Almost daily I hear some old dude (this means anyone over 30) rail on the evil teens/college students. I keep thinking that I must be doing something wrong. The more I watch and learn from today's youth, the more impressed I am. I would love for today's church leaders to take notes on how important relationships, community, and connecting are to teens and young twenty somethings. Actually, it seems like these things are held as their highest value.
Usually, the grumpy old man rant begins by talking about how young people constantly update their facebook or myspace pages and can only communicate with a cell phone in hand. Do a little digging and you find out that they love to keep everyone in the loop of what is going on in their lives. They have an unexplainable desire to know what all of their friends are doing at every waking second. I love it! Community isn't something that ends when you leave someone's presence, but its something that you strive to develop even when you are on vacation, alone in your bedroom, or wherever you might find yourself.
I also love the authenticity of our youth culture. It wigs old folks (again, anyone over 30) out when they see the personal information that the next generation leaders so freely post on public sites. They don't care who knows that they broke up with their boyfriend or are feeling depressed. Its almost like someone forgot to teach them that they are supposed to put on the mask of happiness and keep everyone at an arm's length. I wish the church and especially her leaders could be so vulnerable and open.
(Before anyone says it, I understand boundaries for our teens. I'm not talking about specific safety boundaries, but generational generalities.)
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