Pride

So sometimes we post our own stuff, and sometimes it was already best said by someone else. Dr. Mark Moore has been a huge influence and instructor for me (Nathan) and is doing great things for the Kingdom in Phoenix, AZ.

If you can find 30 minutes to listen/watch this, I promise you will not regret it.

"I don't feel God."

“But I don’t feel God.”

I’ve heard these words come from the mouths of so many people, so many Christians and non-Christians alike; even myself. It feels like God isn’t there. It feels like you must be doing something wrong. It feels like maybe God isn't real, then.

What about when you just don’t feel God? 

God is not a feeling.

Hear me out: “I don’t feel God” are valid words and is a valid concern. But it is important to remember in our feeling-oriented culture that God, and thus Love (in 1 John 4:8 it says that “God is love”), is a Person to be known and not a feeling to be pursued. Feelings come and go; God does not.

If you pursue God only when you feel like it, your love of Him (and your experience of His love for you) will be incomplete.

Tension

Have you ever been caught off guard by one of the parables of Jesus?

I used to think I understood them, or at least that I understood why Jesus used them but today I realized that there is a tension that the parable creates.

It is a tension that I am, of course, not comfortable with.

In Mark 4 we read about Jesus' reasons behind the parables he used:

Resurrection?

Lately I have been wrestling with what Paul wrote to the Saints in Rome.  He writes,

"...the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:8b-9, NIV84)

This entire verse makes sense, until I get to "and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead."  It's not that I do not believe God raised Christ from the dead, because I do.  

The reason I have been wrestling is: How do I know I truly believe in my heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead?

I have been wrestling with this for a couple of weeks now, and until recently; I have not received what I consider an answer from the Lord.  And I am not even one hundred percent sure if the answer I received was from God.

How do I know if I really believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ is true?  

The answer: 

Are you living like it?

These words struck a chord in me..."Am I really living like Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead?"

Why study the Old Testament?

A question has been asked of me recently by a student in the church I work at:
If we are a New Testament people, why study the Old Testament?

I felt it was worthy of a post because this is a question that plagued me before and a question that I think plagues many believers today.

The fact is, the Old Testament gives us the foundation of our theology. Every story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. Without the OT, without understanding the OT, all we have is the end.
The OT creates enough angst within the reader that when Jesus comes... It truly is the most wonderful thing! Like a story that has a deliberate and beautiful plot twist!

Destiny: Become Legend…In Real Life!

If you are video game savvy at all then you have probably spent a few days glued to your TV screen to play Destiny.

Bungie’s latest game fuses first-person shooter with MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) elements to create a game that should keep you busy for a few months if not the better part of a year. You play as a guardian who is tasked with protecting the last city on earth from an invading darkness.
At the center of this is a mysterious object called the Traveler. As you defeat aliens, level up, customize your character, and team up with friends online you live out their advertisement, “Become Legend.”

Well, there is a better way to become legend.

The day Destiny came out I woke up to a shocking Facebook post, “Max-level players are already being spotted in Destiny.”-IGN 

Hold up…this game was only out in the US for about 8 hours at this point and not even 24 hours for the rest of the world. There are seriously people out there who played Destiny so much in one day that they maxed out their character level?! That scares me, because there is a better way to become legend.

Breath

I am currently reading a book entitled "Filled With the Spirit" by John R. Levison. Thus far it is a very intriguing read. These thoughts were inspired from my notes while reading through the book.

It's a jumbled disorganized mess, I am well aware... but I have to get this out before I explode.

If the spirit that gives life in the shadow of death is the font of the psalmist's life of worship; it is also the source of the sage's insight, the artist's intuition, the comedian's wit, the preacher's demeanor, and the courage of the soldier. It is the foundation of what it means to be human. But we have a broken view of ourselves, a broken sense of reality, creativity, thought, and emotion. And we are seeking that which gave the spirit of life in the first place... The breath of the Spirit of God.