a link – Article by Gary Gilley

Includes quotes from Brian McLaren, Tony Campolo, Francis Schaeffer and others.

The “money quote”:

I believe the Word of God has the power to transform our lives and lead us into godliness first and foremost because it makes that claim. The typical evangelical would likely pronounce a hardy “amen” to the above statement—unless and until the claims of the Scripture run cross-grain to the patterns of his life. When the authority of the Bible steps into the arena of his career, his personal habits, his psychological concepts, his finances, his marriage and family, his sports, his dealing with conflict, then suddenly the Holy Scripture is considered of no value and eliminated out of hand. After all, our friend reasons, what does the Bible have to say about such things? The answer—everything. Our friend retorts, it is an ancient book full of nice stories and good proverbs, suitable for worship services and funerals, but it has no reasonable bearing on everyday life, does it? The answer—the Bible, through the power of the Holy Spirit, says it can absolutely transform our lives—every aspect of our lives.

(I have had issues with Gary Gilley in the past…likely because he made so much sense in an area that I have had experience that contradicts his logic…and I don’t care for “experiencial theology”)

Today is the Jewish Day of Atonement and it brought to mind a post I wrote a while ago:

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When I think of “sacrifice” – the first sacrifice that comes to my mind is the sacrifice of my Saviour. The story of the scapegoat is such a beatiful “looking forward” to Christ. Too many times we read the New Testament through the eyes of the Old Testament; today I read the Old Testament with eyes fixed on Christ.

The Scapegoat by William Holman Hunt, 1854. Hunt had this framed in a picture with the quotations “Surely he hath borne our Griefs and carried our Sorrows; Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of GOD and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4) and “And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a Land not inhabited.” (Leviticus 16:22)

Leviticus 16:7-22.

The only time this word “azazel” is used in the Bible is in reference to the “Day of Atonement”

Aaron was to take two goats and cast lots over them – one of the goats would be for the sacrifice, the other would be for “Azazel” (KJV translates “azazel” as scapegoat; the word has two roots ez [she-goat, goat, kid] and azal [to go away, evaporated, gone])

Before anything – Aaron was to sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for himself and to make atonement for himself and his household…

Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil

Aaron was to do with the first goat as he had done with the bull – the blood of the sacrifice was to be sprinkled on the mercy seat.

And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself

Many people have never read this story – we know the word “scapegoat” but don’t really know how Biblical it is.

The people of Israel were sinners (aren’t we all?). On their Day of Atonement, all of their sins were placed on the scapegoat and sent away.

How does this relate to us?

As Christians, our day of atonement came on the day Christ died on the cross. On our Day of Atonement, all of our sins were laid upon the Lamb of God.

Romans 3:25
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

Just as Aaron laid the sins of Israel on the scapegoat, so God laid on Christ the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:6) Christ his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24), just as the goat bore all of Israel’s iniquity on itself.

The goat went out into the wilderness. The Hebrew word is midbar {mid-bawr’} and means (among other things) “uninhabited land” – a place where nobody was. Psalm 103:12 tells us that “as far as the east is from the west,so far does he remove our transgressions from us. That’s a long way. Not only that, but our sins are gone out from us, Jeremiah tells us that (under the New Covenant) God will forgive our iniquity and remember our sin no more.

Our sin is GONE and God will remember it NO MORE!

The carnival theme is “the Beauty of Sacrifice” – how beautiful is “NO MORE”?

the list..

Due tomorrow – 2 “thumbnails” of a still life – 11 various objects – the same objects in two different layouts.  The process is made more difficult because the cat also likes the layout.  One thumbnail is done and the “stuff” is rearranged.

Due Thursday

• my “line” board – 3 projects on a poster board, lesson plans on the back.  I need to do 3 line drawings of a lace up shoe (the other 2 projects are already done, but need to be put on a construction paper backing
• read 3 chapters and complete the chapter reviews (6, 7, 11)
• my “color” sleeve – three small color projects (completed) with lesson plans on the back (not completed) in a “page protector” sleeve.

I’m having a hard time focusing today…I woke up with a headache and generally a little caffeine takes care of it…after drinking a couple of cups of coffee with no effect…realized that I had made decaf.

The art teacher where I work has an exhibit in a local studio and I think I’m going to go to her open house tomorrow evening.  A lot of folks from work are going.

The Loch Ness Monster has migrated to the Grand River.

Photos to follow.

From Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening”…good words

Justified by Christ

“Just, and the justifier of him which believeth.”
–Romans 3:26
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Conscience accuses no
longer. Judgment now decides for the sinner instead of against him. Memory
looks back upon past sins, with deep sorrow for the sin, but yet with no
dread of any penalty to come; for Christ has paid the debt of His people
to the last jot and tittle, and received the divine receipt; and unless
God can be so unjust as to demand double payment for one debt, no soul for
whom Jesus died as a substitute can ever be cast into hell. It seems to be
one of the very principles of our enlightened nature to believe that God
is just; we feel that it must be so, and this gives us our terror at
first; but is it not marvellous that this very same belief that God is
just, becomes afterwards the pillar of our confidence and peace! If God be
just, I, a sinner, alone and without a substitute, must be punished; but
Jesus stands in my stead and is punished for me; and now, if God be just,
I, a sinner, standing in Christ, can never be punished. God must change
His nature before one soul, for whom Jesus was a substitute, can ever by
any possibility suffer the lash of the law.

Therefore, Jesus having taken the place of the believer–having rendered a
full equivalent to divine wrath for all that His people ought to have
suffered as the result of sin, the believer can shout with glorious
triumph, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” Not God,
for He hath justified; not Christ, for He hath died, “yea rather hath
risen again.” My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because I
am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that
being unholy, He is my righteousness. My faith rests not upon what I am,
or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what He has done,
and in what He is now doing for me. On the lion of justice the fair maid
of hope rides like a queen.

click on theimage for the full satire ad

From the blog of Lydia Brownbeck:

A wise man told me, “Life is a testing ground, not a resting ground.”

Life may not turn out the way we want it to…many times it may not turn out the way we expect it to.

We may lose that which we cherish, we may never get that which we want desperately.

Through it all, we are told to trust God…but trust in what?

Trusting that God will make it all turn out the way that we have it all planned it not trust.

Trusting that God is in control and will make it turn out according to His plan…that is trust.

God sees with eternity in mind…we can only see this life. HOW we trust God may end up nearly as important to our spiritual growth as THAT we trust God.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid,
nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

God has led me through some frightening times…times of not knowing what the future will bring.

Maybe even more frightening have been the times when I knew exactly what the future was going to bring.

And there is more frightening times and more uncertainty facing me right now.

Yet God has commanded us…commanded…that we not be afraid.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

Woodrow Kroll writes “Lessons for Living”

A child had to walk each evening past a dark, spooky house. Some adult
friends tried to give him courage. One handed him a good-luck charm to
ward off the ghosts. Another installed a light at a particularly dark
corner near the house. A third took a more spiritual approach, saying,
“It’s sinful to be afraid. Trust God and be brave!” It was good advice,
but not much help. Then one friend said with compassion, “I know what it
is to be afraid. I’ll walk with you past the house.” Instantly the child’s
fears were gone.

“Lucky charms” don’t work, mantras don’t work.

It is because we are adopted children of God that we know that He walks with us.

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. (Psalm 18:32)

So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6)

Do not trust men…they will fail you  Only God will never fail.  And He will walk with you through the scary parts.

You can go through life thinking that there will always be somebody there – a “rock” – but that’s not true.

Sometimes, it’s just you…and God.

Jay E. Adams is blogging and here is his summary of “From Forgiven to Forgiving“.  One of the most helpful books I’ve come across.

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An “Inconvenient List”

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“Don’t Wimp Out On Jesus”

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And Spurgeon’s take on the subject above, “Christian, be a nuisance to the world“

Typical throat and chest congestion and stuffy nose.  Time to start the nasal rinse again.

On a similar note…we are really going to be pushed to get both flu shots this years.  The more research I do on the swine flu shot, the less I want it.

On the other hand, I work with some pretty immuno-compromised people and our campus would be decimated if a bad flu hit us there.

My church is a venue for “ArtPrize” – the first piece of art that committed to being in our building was a Calvin College grad.

Our building will be open to the public for 10 hours a day for 2 weeks…I’ve committed to working for a couple of 5 hour shifts…serving coffee, greeting people and answering questions.

This morning I helped hang up artwork and got to chat with a few of the artists.  I also got the chance to talk a little more with fellow congregation members (who happen to move from a certain mega-CRC I used to be a member of)

And I asked…what if I want to go to Rehoboth…for real.

I got a “preview” of what is going to happen tomorrow in service.  I cried this morning and I’ll cry tomorrow.

Not until next month, but I’m looking forward to it…

“Family Days” at NMU…complete with tours, fish fries, brunches, football games and so forth.

It will be good to see my son.

Another co-worker…

But…I thought you had a significant other…

But…I thought you’d been with him a long time…

But…

But…

sorry.

yeh.

All of those tumors…

luckily she was on FMLA.

Her breast was removed and the tumor in the other was removed…lymph nodes do not appear to be involved and the cancer is one of the non-invasive varieties

Her ovaries were removed

the tumor in her stomach does not appear to be cancer at all!

God is good and prayer works.

I may go back to Yahoo! when my domain name expires with my current provider.

Yahoo includes the domain name in the monthly fee, and upgrading is super easy.

Since I’ve never had a successful upgrade where I’m at, that’s a good selling point.

Something can “matter” without “making a difference”

Having something “matter” is just an emotion…it means that you care.

The question then, becomes “do you care enough to act on the emotion?”

If so, then the the thing that “matters” also “makes a difference”.

It matters to me that my daughter would be very upset if I had her cat put to sleep…but even though it matters, if the time comes, I cannot let that emotion of “matter” also “make a difference.”

If there is no action, no change…then whatever it that “matters” does not “make a difference”…and there is little that “makes a difference”

One one thing.

ABC News reporter Terry Moran caused quite a commotion tonight Twitter after writing the following: “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a “jackass” for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential.”

oops….

In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview. This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.

Can I still agree with him if he was “off the record”?

(Yesterday was politics day and I missed it, so here it is)

He misses home.  I told him that I miss him a lot.

He’s short on cash and I told him that I’ll help as much as I can, which is not very much.

His financial aid still is not done because they lost my tax information (I can fax it tomorrow).  He has a $500 bill that needs to be paid.

But classes are going well.

It was really, really good to tell him I love him.  That his whole family is proud of him.  That he’s doing good.

And that – he told me that he doesn’t like to ask for money – that he should let others be blessed by blessing him.