Swagg Piece McNasty

I'm going to drop some knowledge from a book I'm reading by my pastor back home. He is the real deal and for you all that know me know how highly I think of this man. Studio apartment no questions asked!

Also, what I'm about to write hit my heart hard because my last two years spiritually and professionally have been very tuff and inconsistent. You can say I've been a straight ween on the bump. So here we go....

"If Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, learned obedience by the things He suffered (Hebrews 5:8) and if He suffered most when He performed His highest act of obedience to God, what makes you think we're going to get out of it? Are you suffering greatly, even though your heart is right before God? Praise God-your right on schedule! It means he's got something amazing for you to do. The suffering is coming because He has to get you in shape. Rejoice! You're on His select squad, the Elite Elect. You're on the same team with Joseph, Daniel, Jeremiah, Job, John the Baptist, Stephen, and Paul. That sounds like a dream team!"

"Fearful means faithless-especially since we've been told by Jesus Christ not to fear the tribulations that are going to come."

"You and I turn cowardly when we look at our problems and our limitations. But when we fix our eyes on what God can do, not on what we can't do, our fears melt into confidence, and we'll go our way rejoicing."

Wow! Waino, coward on the mound. Check! Fears melt into confidence? Check! Sound familiar? No office time needed.

This last part is from a prayer of his and it hit me in the face hard last night and I'm still on the mat looking for my mouth piece...

"God, I confess to you that I have allowed my fears to put me into bondage. I know I must now give them to you. Lord, please change my eyesight. I confess this is a sin and want to get rid of it. I acknowledge that you're in control, Father, and I chose to think on Your abilities rather than my limitations."

Bro's by no means have I figured this game out... But God defiantly has changed some things in my heart this year and it's kinda pumping me up. I've prayed for this change and need to continue to do so everyday! Jesus Christ is a flat out Warrior and don't let anybody tell you different.

Blake "constantly humbled" Hawksworth

How many people have you saved?

Whats up studs? Ever been talking to someone about Christ and then all the sudden they ask you "so, how many people have you saved?" I've been asked that. Its come up a few times. I'll answer that one real quick so all y'all don't think i'm going David Caresh. ZERO! Zilch. Lets be clear...the only One who has power to save the souls of men is our Heavenly Father. Sometimes, i get so wrapped up in trying to promote the Lord that I forget that it might not be Gods timing for the whole thing. I keep finding myself thinking that this is "so-and-so's" chance and he's gunna miss out on his chance to inherit the Kingdom. I'll think, "man, what could I have done differently". Or man, if they wouldve just came and heard the sermon today it woulda all happened tonight." But dudes, without the Holy Spirit any attempts to promote will fall on deaf ears. Its not what i'm doing, its what Gods doing. What an idiot I am sometimes. I think instead we should pray that the Holy Spirit will move inside "so-and-so" and He will save that persons soul. If God wants it to happen...for crying out loud it'll happen. Selfishly I'd like to be there when the stuff goes down so I guess i'll just need to do a better job praying for people. Or if any of yall has a direct line to The Big Man send me the digits. Just a joke...but seriously. So many times I want things to happen on my time. And so many times i figure out that if things had happened the way i wanted them to i'd be in a big mess right now. Kinda like that Garth Brooks song that said the greatest gifts sometimes are unanswered prayers. It's beginning to sink in my thick skull that we should just trust the lord with all our heart and not rely on our own understanding and seek His will in all that we do and he will direct our paths.....wait....whoops...that was proverbs 3: 5,6. one of my faves and it keeps smackin me in the face.
Ephesians 5:17 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
In short...all we can do is live our lives in a way that reflects God, and let Him take care of the rest.
-waino

Hey God; What Are You Doing (dang)?

What is He doing? Why, why, why? What is His purpose for this, that, and all of last year? I've said it , you have said, we all have, come on let's be real. His ways are so mysterious but after a month/year/or a couple years it all makes sense. John Piper is one of the most popular Christian men of our time and his book Desiring God is a tough read but it is heat for our spirits.
Psalm 115:3 "Our God is in heaven; He does all that He pleases."
We established that a couple weeks ago, but didn't discuss why. Just as we are constantly pursuing pleasure God is pursuing praise and it is that same and equal pursuit that we together make up the Great Gospel. This is the foundation of living a life as a Christian where we can have complete joy in knowing that God has got us in all situations, there will be no need to worry about this world or anything in it. Sounds easy but it isn't it will take time, commitment, obedience, and more importantly discipline.
Romans 11:35-36 "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
God is perfect and completely holy, and everything else that He is. He knows how wonderful He is and he knows that we can have peace, fulfillment, happiness, purpose, and all things in Him. So God is constantly out there doing things to get us to trust, surrender, and enjoy Him. How frustrating must that be for the Big Guy huh? Wow! I never would have died for us or even given us a second chance, matter of fact I would probably hate us for all we have done. How good is God? God pursues our praise because He knows that when we praise Him we are fulfilled, joyous, and in love with Him. It is like Piper says "A Great Gospel". Tyler Durham spit a profound scrip at me years ago and it has added meaning so many times through different circumstances. Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Delight yourself, find delight in God and how good He is. He has a plan for all this and all that just trust it and save yourself the foul mood and anxiety. It will all make sense trust it and wait patiently. Delight yourself in God, dig in deeper to His living word, learn more by reading fellowshipping and attending church. Do it because you know it will bring you a greater understanding that provides a peace that doesn't make sense to your parents and friends but it makes a lot of sense to you because the Holy Spirit is blessing you with just enough hope. Oh man! I hope you stayed with this and are getting fired up like me, reread it if you have to. I will wrap it up with this- pursue God for happiness and pleasure because He can provide, praise Him for everything (good/bad) and see where you are in a week spiritually and mentally. P.S. If anybody needs to get pumped call Blake (425)766-5321 he is on fire right now and it is infectious, look out Waino you might catch something hot! Blessings to all of you keep pushing that prayer list full tilt and we will get a report out soon.

Gods Presence...from todd martin

How do we enter God’s presence? We have to qualify to enter God’s presence because He is Holy, Righteous, and Omnipotent (to name a few). If we are going to "business" with God we have to be in sync with Him. We have to be one with God. Prayer is literally us connecting with God’s desires and then allowing Him to release those desires through us on earth.
“Entering into God’s presence” is used a lot today in reference to worship and prayer. But, I wonder how many people these days understand what this concept means. We attempt to do so but never quite attain it. Why? Let’s start with reverence for God. One of the much-loved theological ideas in many churches is grace cancels law. But, because we misunderstand the nature of grace, we are casual about our obedience to God. We will sin, then right before church or chapel we quickly ask for forgiveness, thinking that prepares us to enter the doors. I know this has been me on many occasions. We treat the precious blood of Jesus, which He gave His life to deliver us, as if it’s some temporary fix for our sins so we can sin all over again, and a lot of times, in the same manner. Is that truly loving Jesus? It is like we are using Him, then wondering why we see no answers to prayer. But actually, grace supersedes law in the sense that only the grace we receive in Christ enables us to fulfill God’s law.
God is not our safety insurance from hell. He wants a relationship, not a religion. He wants communion and intimacy. Entering into the very mind and heart of God, drawing close, in order to become one with Him and His purposes may not be a simple matter as we generally think. When we do not have a healthy fear for God and His Commandments, I believe it hampers us entering into His presence.
Along with this comes holiness. Holiness is critical to prayer because “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Jesus stressed this truth when He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matt. 5:8). You can look at these verses and think that it refers to seeing God in Heaven, but I am looking at them as seeing Him in everyday life on earth, in a sense of having an intimate relationship of love with Him and entering into His presence so we can learn His heart and mind. Jesus was telling us how to remain in unity with Him.
So, we are to be pure in heart. Pure means holy. The word holy means to “sanctify, or set apart” or “to be set apart”. So, blessed are the set in heart, for they will see God. In Leviticus God tells us to be holy because He is holy. Holiness always has to do with separation, fixing ourselves on God rather than being influenced by people who are not set on Him, or who do not believe in His Word. The scriptures say “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exod. 14:13; 2 Chron. 20:17 NKJV). In essence, if we are holy, then God will manifest Himself to us, we will see Him, and see His salvation in our lives. If our minds are set in regard to our prayer, that is we are convinced that He will do what He has promised, and if we are pure in what we believe and what we do, then we will see Him manifested. In this sense, holiness can be a key or the key both in being relentless in prayer and to receiving answers in prayer. A part of holiness is being convinced that what God says and what God does are the same.
I will pick up here next week with James 1:5-8.
dying to myself,
-todd

PRAISE HIM!!!

Whats up studs? This week I wanna go in a different route for my day. Instead of having a topic for the article, I have felt for a few hours now that I should just take some time to just praise God. So...that's what i'm gunna do.
Can I start by just talking about how amazingly awesome and complex the entire universe is. I mean...how bout the human body. Organs, blood, skin, cells, dna, double helix'....wow. Someone told me that scientists have discovered a new particle, i think its the smallest but im not sure, and it's shaped like a cross. And do you know what that particle that's shaped like a cross' funtion is....it's in charge of holding everything in the human body together. HOW PERFECT IS THAT!!! Without it we would just be a pile of gush sloppin around on the concrete. Shaped like a cross...that almost gives me chills. Do you think thats just by chance...cuz i'm seeing a crazy comparison to Christ...the one who holds everything together for us. How about our solar system. We got planets orbiting planets that are orbiting other planets that never smash into each other that are floating because theres no gravity....ughghhhh. Wind, clouds, ocean, lava...im rambling i know but it's just amazing. This brings me to several conversations i've had. One dude says..."well, i believe theres a God, and i believe He's the creator of the earth but i don't think He could do some of the things in the Bible." Well, heres what I say. Which is harder? Creating the Earth, clouds, wind, rain, lava, sun, ocean, human body, black holes, other planets, stars, ozone layers, etc....or raising someone from the dead? For us its a no brainer but for God, theres no difference. He's all powerful. He created our universe in 6 days. I cant even figure out how to throw my slider properly in six days. He is the Alpha and the Omega. As one of my friends told me, our God can hold the entire universe in the palm of His hand. The fact is, our brain wants to try to figure everything out. Well guess what...we cant figure out everything. Thank God for that too. Our God is worthy of our praise, just as we are unworthy of His grace. I look forward to the day i get to heaven... Paul said it best when he said to live is Christ and to die is gain. To all you scientists out there, I gotta verse for ya...
Proverbs 3:5-6 (New Living Translation)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

waino

Message to the unbeliever. Wake up call to the luke warm

"I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected-even children in the third and fourth generations." -Exodus 34:7 NLT

~Why would sins affect children and grandchildren? This is no arbitrary punishment. Children still suffer for the sins of their parents. Consider child abuse or alcoholism, for example. While these sins are obvious, sins like selfishness and greed can be passed along as well. The consequences of sin are limited to the the individual family member. Be careful not to treat sin casually, but repent and turn from it. The sin may cause you a little pain now, but it could sting in a most tender area of your life later- your children and grandchildren.

"But God says to the wicked: Why bother reciting my decrees and pretending to obey my covenant? For you refuse my discipline and treat my words like trash... While you did all this, I remained silent, and you thought I didn't care. But now I will rebuke you, listing all my charges against you. Repent, all of you who forget me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you. But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God." -Psalm 50:16-17, 21-23 NLT

~Just because God is silent, doesn't mean he is condoning sin or is indifferent. Instead, he is withholding deserved punishment, giving you time to repent.

"The Lord isn't really being slow about his proimise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." -2 Peter 3:9

~Jesus is waiting for you, BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU. We need to realize our time on earth is short, and it's time to take action. Be ready to meet Christ at any time, even today!

"Because the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief." -2 Peter 3:10

Remember When- "we acted weakly"

Let's take Adams post from yesterday and dig a little further or go somewhere else. Wainwright sparked my thinking and took me back to the thoughts that I would have during those times of sinning, adversity, moments when I didn't understand why after I was already a believer. I look back now and say "I'm glad God is God" (similar to Boyer's quote). So digging into the scripts we go back to Genesis and read that Joseph get's sold into slavery because he was favored by his father and it made his brothers angry (Genesis 37), His masters wife tries to get him in the sack and he declines only to see her lie and have him tossed into the dungeon (Gen 39), then Pharoahs butler forgets about him while he is locked up in prison for 2 years. Adversity? Where is God during this whole thing, I thought He only gives us what we can handle? I'm looking at this situation tapping the mat like "Yo, I'm good, ring the bell, I give in, Uncle!" Jojo (Joseph) goes ahead and hits his brothers with this nugget in Genesis 50:20 "But as for you, you meant evil against me but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day; to save many people alive." What?!!! When I get frustrated, depressed, feel like I'm not catching the breaks you know what I do? I sin, I smoke, drink, watch porn, take actions that follow watching porn, cuss/curse, yell at God saying His mighty name in vain, inflict violence, break stuff, etc... Ya, I said it and it's all true, that is all on my resume. Sure some of it doesn't happen anymore but too much of it still does happen. We really don't believe in the sovereignty of God when we react like this, we don't believe that He has this whole thing mapped out and He is who He said He is (Denny Green style). Ask yourself this, why don't we believe that God have the sqauds best interest in mind at all times? He created this and He is in charge, this is all for His holy purpose, the greatest story ever told, the end is already written, believe in that fact. Remember; Our God is in the heavens, He does all He pleases (Psalm 115:3). We can't allow things to discourage us and lead us to the slaughtering effects of sin. We have to meditate on the victory and our identity being in Christ not this world. I felt one of Adam's best points was that the world is looking at us and how we as christians react to trouble. To the world I say "here is my coke (probably water) and here is my smile" I know where I'm going to spend eternity. Revelation 17:17 makes another example of how everything that happens is under God's watch and He allows it, even Christ's death. Nobody can escape the sovereign control of God, it will get easier when we submit, accept and trust. Blessings, don't mind my spotty topics, blame it on Waino he got me bouncing!

Remember when?

Whats up fellas? Sorry i missed my day (computer was on the fritz), but i figure better late than never.
Remember how life was before we came to know Christ? I do. Sinning was easy...even though i didn't think of it as sin. Porn, bring it on. Getting drunk, not a ton but at least a few times a month. And what about some wacky weed every now and then. I wasn't hurting anybody right. Life was easy man. No need for accountability, just don't do anything stupid enough to get you locked up and your good. No need for prayer, cuz i could do everything myself. Anybody else on here believe that back in the day? Is there anybody else on here that was as lost and searching as i was? Don't get me wrong, i wasn't a bad guy by worldly standards, but how many "good guys" do you know that are heading for an afterlife of agony. Just watch one episode of almost anything on tv and you'll realize how fallen our world is. Sex scenes every episode, super bowl commercials you gotta turn the channel on or tell the kids to turn their heads.....earmuffs. Its only gunna get worse dudes. How much easier is it to yell at the guy that cut you off than to just forgive. Its a tough life we live now, and the entire world is watching us to see if we'll fail.
The truth of being a christian, actually, is life undoubtedly gets tougher after being saved than pre. Trust me, i know. The temptation we face everyday begins to stack up higher and higher until the only thing we can possibly turn to for relief is God. Its not something we cant handle though as God says he wont give us more than we can stand. Or maybe it is more than we can handle just not more than He can handle. Either way, we're protected. 2 Timothy 4:16-22, "The Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed . . . and I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me . . . and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom." And, we get to live our life with a joy and peace because we know exactly where we'll be living for eternity. As my buddy Blaine Boyer once said "thank God for God!"
sorry for the delay,
waino

The Person of Christ

When Jesus came to earth He took on human flesh. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14) In that moment, the second Person of the Trinity took on human form. He became a man. He was fully God and fully man. Jesus is reigning right now as I write this in a resurrected body as the head of the church, His bride.

Now when Jesus died of course His spirit left his body. That is what ours will do when we die, but through the power of the Spirit His body was resurrected and reunited with His Spirit.

What we have to remember is that Jesus is not two separate persons in one body. He is one person with two natures. Once he took on human nature, He never gave it up, while also keeping His divine nature.

Jesus had to become a man in order to represent the human race in His death. His humanity and divinity allows Him to be our mediator between us and the Father. (Heb 2:17)

Jesus did not renounce His divinity on the cross because only God could pay for our sins because the payment required the perfect sacrifice. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible says that salvation is from the Lord. If the Christ did not die on the cross then redemption was not accomplished.

The view that Todd is advancing is called "Nestorianism." Nestorias was a popular preacher in Constantinople in the 5th century. His view was that Christ was two persons in one body, rather than one person with two natures. Nowhere in Scripture do we see the divine person and the human person talking, struggling against each other, or doing separate things like one dying on the cross while the other leaves. Jesus was a single person acting in wholeness and unity.

This view was declared heresy and in A.D. 451 the church crafted a statement to attempt to solve these problems about the person of Christ, called the Chalcedonian Definition. Here it is:

"Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us."

I think this whole debate is a blessing because it has directed our attention to our Savior. Anytime we can clarify who Jesus is, it is a good thing.

Blessings,

Durham

Obeying Authority

Romans 13:1-2 "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves. 

Obeying your authority whether it be boss, employer, government, etc... it can be hard. We often ask "is this right"? This verse shows that God uses them for His divine purposes. We are called to be obedient to these situations because God has put them there. However we have to prayerfully react to the situation, never in haste. Does anybody ever think about cheating on their taxes? This verse probably will convict us of that thought. 

v4 "For he is God's minister to you for good." uncle sam might teach us a thing or two about obedience. If we don't act in obedience it could be said that we are sinning against God. I don't want that in my life. Here are some other related verses.

Psalm 75:7 "But it is God who judges, He brings down one and exalts another." 

Psalm 115:3 "Our God is in heaven; he does whatever He pleases."

Holy Living

"So must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires." 1 Peter 1:14 NLT

"So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for his nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the lord's kindness." 1 Peter 2:1-3 NLT

2 out walk in the 9th... F Bomb. Such an easy way to ruin my witness to every single person watching me pitch. How sad is it of me to think it's even about me at the moment? If anyone believes that on this earth we will not face a consequence for our sin, your sadly mistaken. But Blake, your talking about a little curse word. Your a good guy, that's the devil trying to make you feel guilty. First off, squash the devil temptation card! Since when is small sin looked over or taken lightly? Peter says, YOU MUST BE HOLY! Not try your best to be holy. You must be Holy in EVERYTHING you do. Two out of three games I've cursed out loud. The same guys that see my Jesus cross in my locker see my foul language and must think..."HA, he's such a hypocrite." That really makes me ashamed and extremely guilty. Lord forgive my false witness to others, and wash me clean from my sin. I am a sinner. 

Blake

to please Him not men

Whats up studs? Sometimes when i'm sitting down to write an article I get the writers block. I'll scroll through my Bible looking for something i've highlighted that sticks out or go through old bible study notes. And other times it comes to me easy. This time I felt convicted to speak about our mission....To serve God.
Yesterday, i sat down and wrote an email to my entire contact list just as terry, jules, nolan, hawk, and sam have done. I wrote like two paragraphs and it took me about an hour. I kept searching for the perfect sentence or paragraph that i thought would relay what we were trying to do. In the back of my brain the entire time i kept thinking "man, there are people on here that may not look at me the same." Or "Shoot! Is this gunna offend everybody?" Then it struck me, i wasn't writing that letter for me, my friends, or anybody else on Earth. I was writing for the kingdom and the glory of God. Pow!!! After I realized that the words came flowing. As Christians we are living this life to reflect Gods glory, Gods purpose, Gods plan......for God. Studs, many of us have been given amazing platforms. We are put in positions to lift teamates up daily and be visual evidence of why non believers should convert. Wow, that feels like a lot of pressure. One thing i know is that we will fail if we try to be perfect. But we wont fail if we put our trust in the One who is perfect....Jesus Christ.
Another thing. As i was writing the email last night my wife was reading Acts. In the commentary at the bottom of the page it said that we as Christians should not be discouraged when not everyone reacts positively to our kingdom work. Perfect timing for me to remember that we have an audience of one.
Colossians 3:23-24 (English Standard Version)
23(A) Whatever you do, work heartily,(B) as for the Lord and not for men, 24knowing that from the Lord(C) you will receive the inheritance as your reward.(D) You are serving the Lord Christ.
have a nice day,
waino

Voodoo Child...

Voodoo Child...

A few months ago I was watching a music awards show (Don't remember which one...may have even been a re-run) in which they had someone covering a Jimi Hendrix song. It was Voodoo Child which has a very unique intro...if you've heard it you know what I mean...and I was getting all excited because I'm somewhat of a Hendrix fan. 

The person on stage was nailing it...every note...every sound was exactly the same. It was as if he took Jimi's guitar and sound equipment from Woodstock and put it into a air-tight hyperbaricchamber and preserved it perfectly until this performance. If my eyes had been closed I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference until...he started singing.

This got me thinking...You can take something and replicate it with the most precise attention to detail, but unless you have the touch of the original artist it just isn't the same. Without Jimi, Voodoo Child isn't the same.

How many times do we as Christians try to replicate something that Jesus did and leave out the heart of Christ and it just wasn't the same??? Have you ever tried to help someone out who was in need only to give them some help and still feel like something just isn't right??? Or maybe you fasted for a week and at the end of the week feel like the only thing to change was your hunger...

Unless you have the heart of the Original Artist...then your covers of His music aren't gonna be quite the same...(Isaiah 58 reference)

The Power of Prayer (part 2)

Sup fellas, I am picking back up on this series by overlapping the last paragraph from the previous email. We will get into how to pray and all that jazz in future emails, but for now I still want to focus on some foundational understanding of prayer. I realize that what I am saying may seem a little foreign, but believe me if you can, as time goes on, along with the emails, it will start to become more clear, at least i hope........alright, let's rock
...........But then God did something wonderful and is shown a couple chapters later, He made a promise to the devil in Genesis 3:15. Paraphrased it says the woman that satan used to destroy humanity, God said she shall provide for Me(God) a physical body to enter the earth.

From Gen. 3:15 through the entire OT, a promise is seen of God Himself coming into the earth in a body so that he could be legal on the planet. Take a look in Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah says “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Now why does God need a body to enter earth? To protect himself from violating the Law. Because, and we go back to Gen. 1:26, only humans can have authority on earth. The coming of God in a body is to keep His own integrity. So, let’s understand this further. Later on in Isaiah Ch. 9 verse 6, Isaiah sees something else. He says “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The child was born, the Son was given, and so the Son was not born. The child was the baby, the body; the Son was Christ; the God. So Mary birthed the child, but God gave the Son…….the body made the Son legal. So, Jesus is the body, Christ is the God. Jesus made Christ legal. Jesus made God legal on earth. Again, so the coming of God in a body was to keep His own integrity. As long as Jesus was on earth, God was legal!
Jesus could only do what He did on earth, not because He was the Son of God, but because He was the Son of Man. Let’s look into this further. John chapter 5 is a chapter that dealt with the healing by the pool. There was a man on a mat as we pick up in verse 6.
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. (NIV)
The Pharisees persecuted Jesus for performing these miracles, wondering where he got the power, wondering who gave Him authority to perform these works. What Jesus says is very important. Verse 19 through 20 says, Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.” (NIV)
In other words, this man was healed already in the Heaven, but the miracle could not come to earth because there was no human to give permission for it to happen. So the Pharisees were asking, how did you heal this man? Jesus replied something like, “My Father healed him a long time ago, but the healing couldn’t get to earth." Because why? Exactly, humanly permission.

Now we go on in John to verses 21-22, Jesus says “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” In other words, God in Heaven does not do anything on earth. He gave all the right for that to be done, by the Son. Why? Look at verse 27, Jesus says “And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” (underlining mine)
Jesus said the reason why I (speaking of Himself) have authority on earth is not because I am the Son of God (that’s the Christ), but because I am the Son of Man (that’s the Jesus). If I didn’t have a body, I couldn’t do these miracles on earth. In other words, we are needed by God to get things out of Heaven on earth legally. That is why our bodies (and our prayers as you will see later on) are so important. With all the things Jesus did, He went on to say in John 14, “And greater works will you do”. So, He would later go to the Father, leave, become illegal, we on earth have the bodies, so nothing happens on earth without us allowing it to happen. THIS IS WHY PRAYER IS THE MOST POWERFUL ACTIVITY ON EARTH! So prayer is man giving God license to interfere with earth’s affairs. So maybe you can see now a little more clearly why Jesus said “when you pray” or when He said “pray without ceasing”. He knew what our prayers would mean for this earth. Prayers are needed to bring things of Heaven to earth!
I'll end with this. We need to ask God to intervene in human affairs; otherwise, our world will be susceptible to the influences of satan and sin. God will ultimately bring His purposes to pass in the world, with or without our cooperation. He will find someone who agrees with His plans, but when you neglect to pray, you fail to fulfill your role in His purposes. He does not want you to miss out on the privilege. James 4:2 says, "You do not have, because you do not ask God."
dying to myself,
-todd

Satire is good...

Thought this was interesting...I don't want my church to be like this.

20/20 - Eyes Open to More of Him

Numbers 6:25-26 "the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace."
Isaiah 9:7 "Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end."
Romans 5:1 "Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
There you have it, 3 scripts based on gaining Peace. What is peace, ask yourself, write down your definition. We all want it and yet it seems to elude us so many times and feels far from where we are, why? Maybe because we are result oriented, can you relate? It could be a wide variety of things and I will leave that for you to add via a comment after this is posted. But here is my focus... vision, what is your spiritual vison right now, are you seeing things clear, are you seeing what God's will is for your life? Sure it is tough to see the near future and sometimes tougher to see the distant future, but I say it is easier if we adjust our vision. The very end of this story is already written and we are going to inherit the earth, amen? So knowing that we can trust in Him and press in to Him. Trust God and draw closer by spreading yourself out spiritualy, flex your spiritual muscle and push your limits. Pray to be drawn closer so you can see His face (Numbers 6, see above). Seek His face and you will have peace that surpasses all understanding, you will have peace in any situation, He promises that when we seek Him. Push aside the desire to match results and put up good numbers (pertains to all of life). The results are under His control all we have to do is believe in Him and seek His face. Allow this Man named Jesus to transform your thought patterns and slap you with vision that 20/20. I want peace, I'm tired of pushing the plow in the wrong direction. Step up our prayer game and improve that vision.

Father I thank you for loving me, I thank you for being the most wonderful thing in my life, I thank you for knowing this world better than me, improve my vision, help us to seek Your face, give us peace. You are so worthy of our praise! Amen.