To live is Christ

Messy Spirituality

2010-03-15T13:02:00.002-05:00

The title of this blog post is also the title of, in my opinion, the masterpiece work of Michael Yanonelli. The youth ministry guru wrote this book about the messiness of humans, and the messiness of Christians in our pursuit of Christ. I am currently reading this masterpiece front to back, which I have never had the opportunity to do. As I often try to do, I will post thoughts here that come up as I am reading.

Today, I would like to discuss pretending (If you want to know why this comes to mind, read page 37 of Yaconelli's book).

The truth is that Sunday morning church services are full of pretenders. If you were to ask people at a church on Sunday morning, the vast majority of people in America are "doing fine," and "excited to be in the house of the Lord." As people leave the church building, its amazing that nearly everyone "was encouraged by the singing," and "was really touched by that sermon the preacher gave."

Now, I hate to by cynical (that may be a stretch, I hate to be too cynical), but it seems to me that these same people that are on fire for the Lord once a week are the same people struggling with drinking too much, swearing too much, eating too much, lusting too much, etc. These are the same people with family problems, marital problems, health problems, etc. These people have somehow been programmed to recite lines about how good everything is on Sunday when their world is falling apart.

Jesus never asked for such false optimism. Jesus asked for honesty. Think about the woman at the well. She tried to make a simple statement about having no husband, but Jesus called her to be honest, that she was living in a pattern of sexual sin and broken relationships. Jesus invited himself into her mess.

I believe that one crucial reason the church in America is fading today is that we are a church that stays away from the messes inside our peoples lives. You cannot clean a bedroom without going into the bedroom and getting the garbage out, and likewise you cannot help someone clean up their messiness if you never step into that messiness to help them see what they need to do. If you ask people to pretend to be holy, that is exactly what you will get; pretend holiness. But imagine if you stepped into their world, stepped into their mess, and loved them, and slowly helped them take out the trash.

One of the hardest parts of cleaning out a room is that you have to choose to get rid of things that you have had for a long time. Those things, as old and nasty as they might be, have in some way become precious to us. If you ask a person to clean out their lives, but don't step in to help them, they may not be able to part with some of their messiness. Alcohol may be tearing their life apart, but it won't be easy for them to part with it. They may realize that pornography is sin, and is a disgusting degredation of women, but they will still have a hard time parting with it. They may realize that cursing doesn't line up with Ephesians 4:29, but knowing that Scripture won't make it any easier to quit cursing. What people need is help. What people need are "little Christs" (that's what being a Christian is) who will meet them in the mess of their lives, show themt the way out, stick with them when they resist getting rid of the mess, love them when they hate you for calling them to change, and celebrate them when they are victorious along the way.

May we be those "little Christs"

A DAY FOR LIST MAKING!

2010-02-10T14:55:00.002-05:00

I'm in a mood to make some lists. So here we go:

Top Ten Books I currently have on my reading list (I own these books already and will hopefully finish all of them in the next 2 months)

1. Ruth by Edward F. Campbell
2. Beyond Opinion by Ravi Zacharias
3. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints series
4. Already Gone by Ham and Beemer
5. The Cross Examination of Jesus Christ by Singer
6. The Gospels for all Christians by Richard Bauckham
7. How to Read Genesis by Temper Longman III
8. Psalms 1-71 by Kidner
9.The Dangerous Act of Worship (can't think of author)
10. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Five Questions that I Would Like Answered

1. Should we consider the story of Ruth more similar in style and purpose to the Joseph narrative of Genesis, the book of Esther, or the narrative sections of Job?
2. What is what I see as blue, you see as brown, even though we both call it blue? What if our eyes do not show us the same shade even though we interpret it the same color?
3. How do dogs wake up at exactly the same time every single day?
4. How do we create true Christian community in a "christian" town that is entrenched in its own culture?
5. What makes it so hard for us to keep our mouth shut when we should?

Ten things I am currently looking forward to...
1. 30 Hour Famine at Inner-City Mission
2. Next football season (I will pick the Colts as the SB champs!)
3. March Madness
4. The high schoolers college road trip over Spring Break
5. Spending some time playing video games tonight.
6. Planning the purity retreat
7. The Elders Study that I am currently participating in with our elders at the church.
8. The Men's Retreat at the church
9. Summer--or even spring--anytime when the weather is warmer and the ground isn't covered in a foot of snow.
10. Did I mention next football season?

Dan Marino: The Best Ever

2010-02-04T14:50:00.003-05:00

Instead of the typical discussions of books and faith that tend to overwhelm this website. Today I would like to spend a little bit of time to discuss the grand topic of football. It is, after all, Super Bowl week. I spend quite a bit of time perusing articles about my favorite team, the Indianapolis Colts.

The bulk of articles this week have focused on Peyton Manning, and whether this win will solidify his place as the best quarterback ever. Now I must start by saying that I am not questioning the greatness of Manning, he is my second favorite player of all time (behind Terrell Davis). However, I would like to make the case that this win will in no way solidify him as the best QB ever. In fact, he still needs a lot of work to earn the title "best ever" from me.

So let's begin by rehashing some of the typical arguments made in favor of Peyton Manning:

1. He is on pace to break every major record for his craft. This is absolutely true.
2. He controls the game better than anyone. Again, this appears to be true.
3. He has become the king of the comeback. I have trouble not giving John Elway that title, but Peyton has proven himself to be able to come back from apparently insurmountable odds.
4. If Peyton wins this game, he will launch himself into the elite company of quarterbacks that have multiple rings. He will have multiple rings, but I will question how pertinent this is a little later.

So those are the arguments for him. Some people will argue other QB's as the best ever based on an emphasis on one aspect or another (Tom Brady has more rings, Johnny Unitas controlled the game even better, etc.). However, there is little doubt in my mind that when the dust settles Peyton will be the best QB of this generation, and could be in the mix as the best QB of all time. However, there is one QB that right now is head and shoulders above all the rest, including Manning. Dan Marino.

Yes, Really. Before you go thinking I am crazy, you need to look at the body of work that Dan put forth in his career. Here is my list of reasons for him as the best ever:

1. The statistics tell a story. Marino's 420 career TD passes and 61000 passing yards are the best ever. Yes, the indestructable Favre has broken the records, but not because he was statistically better, but because he has longevity that has never been matched. Marino's single season yardage total has still not been topped. Here is the amazing thing about his statistics: He did it in an era that was less inclined to pass. The experts always give Montana an edge because he had to earn his stats more than the new guys, but Montana and Marino played in the same league at the same time. Marino's play made Montana look silly. Marino put up huge numbers against defenses that were allowed to rough up Wide Receivers, hit the quarterback, and cause more overall disruption. Manning statistically is great, but he plays in an era that he is pretty much protected. He needs to do more than beat Marino statistically to be in the discussion, he needs to destroy the numbers.

2. Marino had the least talented roster of any of the "greats." Think about this: Montana had perhaps the greatest offensive coach of all time, and he was able to throw the ball to Jerry Rice, possibly the best football player of any position ever. Manning has spent his career throwing to three future HOF members (Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark). Aikman threw to Irvin and had Emmitt Smith taking the attention away from him. In Brady's only truly impressive offensive season he was throwing to the best WR combo ever in Moss and Welker (maybe second best to Tim Brown and Jerry Rice in Oakland). Elway had Sharpe, Smith, and Terrell Davis around him. Terry Bradshaw had Lynn Swann and one of the greatest defenses ever assembled.

Who did Marino have playing with him? His best WR ever was Mark Clayton, a solid reciever that I would say is comparable to an Anquan Boldin or Calvin Johnson--a good WR for his day, but not the best. He also threw to Mark Duper, O. J. McDuffie, Nat Moore, and Jim Jenson. Not too many of those guys strike fear into opponents. The Dolphins also failed to take attention away from Marino with solid running. During Marino's career, the Dolphins used a collection of running backs that include: Andra Franlin, Tony Nathan, Lorenzo Hampton, Sammie Smith, and Mark Higgs. In other words, the team that the Dolphins placed around Marino was terrible. Marino was putting up numbers by throwing to nobodies.

3. Against all these odds, Marino was still a winner. When Marino started in a football game, the Dolphins were 147-93, winning 61% of their games. The Dolphins average record for his career was 10-6. He took ragtag teams to the playoffs 10 different seasons. It wasn't as if this guy was a loser. He just didn't have the overall talent around him to beat teams that were truly great (Think San Fran in the 1980's, The Buffalo Bills in the early 90's). These other teams had rosters full of talent. Marino found a way to compete, and was still 8-10 in the playoffs. That isn't a great record, but with the talent around him, it isn't his fault.

4. Championships are an overrated aspect of deciding the "best ever." Championships are won by a team, not a quarterback. You think Bradshaw wins any championships without that defense? You think Elway wins without Terrell Davis? You think Brady wins any without Bill's defense? There is no way Big Ben wins very many games without the Steelers great defense. Quarterbacks can win games, but championships are won by teams that are complete from top to bottom. This is not to say that multiple championships can't give a guy a little boost, but they certaintly can't be the primary evidence. This is why I hate putting Tom Brady in the discussion. Until he was surrounded by the super receivers, he hadn't posted 30 TD's in a season. He has only had 3 4,000 yard seasons. His numbers are good, but they aren't "best ever" quality.

So there it is. Marino was the best ever. Manning could still take the place at the top, but in my book, he still has a long way to go.

A little Scripture to start the week

2010-01-25T12:26:00.002-05:00

Some of the most difficult parts of Scripture are the most obvious parts. I find it extremely easy, in many ways, to parse Scripture; to search for the meaning in those passages that have caused disunity in the body of Christ. I enjoy those passages. I enjoy the challenge of reading the text, studying the words, reading the historical arguments, looking at the context, reading commentaries, looking at parrallel passages, and coming to a conclusion. These are my puzzles, and I excel at solving them.

The text of Scripture, however, oftentimes comes with no puzzle. It comes instead with a very straightforward picture of how we are to live, and who we are to be as believers of Jesus the Messiah. These texts, though easy to study, can oftentimes give me great difficulty because I find them difficult to apply to my life.

The passage that has been giving me fits recently is found in Ecclesiastes 10:12-14. The passage reads (from the NASB) as follows:

"Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, while the lips of a fool consume him; the beginning of his talking is folly, and the end of it is wicked madness. Yet the fool multiplies words..."

So this passage has some obvious truths in it. It speaks to the wise, the follower of God, as someone who speaks with grace. This means giving people kind words when even when they don't deserve them. It speaks to the ability of a fool to use his lips to destroy himself (what we might call "digging ourselves a hole.") It also speaks of the pathway a fool typically takes toward evil speech. He doesn't begin by speaking sinfully, but by speaking with folly, silliness, or stupidity. This mediocre base for speech lends itself to a downward spiral that ends in evil speech. If you start your conversations, arguments, etc. with folly, it is very easy for you to go downhill and start speaking sinfully to whomever speaks with you. The last phrase is what I call the "shut up verse." It simply means what it says, that a fool doesn't know how to stop talking.

We can easily preach on the application of this passage. You can come up with several points of practical application for a sermon or lesson:

1. Sometimes it's best to shut up and say nothing, rather than say something that could lead you to sin.
2. We must learn to show people grace, even in the way we speak to them.
3. Acting argumentatively typically will lead to evil speech patterns.
4. If you start your speech in a gray area, it is easy to go downhill from there.

This stuff is easy to teach, it is very hard to apply to my own life. I taught this to a member of the congregation last week. Since then I had a conversation with my wife in which she told me that I was the most argumentative person she knows (argumentative people tend to multiply their words). Do you know how I responded? I argued that I wasn't argumentative.

I really struggle with wanting the last word. The last word in any arguement, especially if the topic is sports, politics, or religion. So today I am going to try to practice what I preach. I shall no longer:

1. Respond to political comments on facebook or other social networks.
2. Every "in the moment" argument I have with someone will be punished by 1 day without accessing internet except for church email.

I hope I can still talk to everyone, because I hope these measures will help me conquer my tongue.

May the peace of Christ dwell in you richly

M

Let Youth Be Bored, For the Gospel Sake!

2010-01-05T16:15:00.002-05:00

I am currently reading a book entitled Family-Based Youth Ministry by Mark Devries. I want to share a quote with you:

"Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, is frequently quoted as saying,
"It's a sin to bore a kid with the gospel." Being, in many ways, a product
of Young Life myself, I have a deep appreciation for waht Rayburn was getting
at; namely, that the traditional structures of the church are often obstacles
rather than windows through which we see Christ.But keeping teenagers from ever being bored in their faith deprives
them of the opportunity to develop the discipline and perseverance they need to
live the Christian life...Christian faith may begin on the mountaintop,
but Christian character is formed int he crucible of pain."

This statement has really been brewing in my mind. How many times do we
see young people who were extremely involved in youth activities fall away from
institutional church, and blame the church for being too boring! They get bored with the congregational singing, the time of communion, the message that is actually preached straight out of Scripture. They feel out of place spending time with elderly and children, and they end up leaving the church because they didn't have a place that could be called their own.'

Perhaps the job of youth ministry is not to get youth excited about playing
games, because adults do not play games at church. Perhaps the job of
youth ministry is not to take students to rock concerts and exciting conferences, for often times they make the journey with Christ seem like the life of a rock star, which it most certainly is not. Perhaps we need to spend more time sending our youth to work on the house of a shut-in within the church community. Perhaps we should spend more of our time teaching students to appreciate the words used in worship, and focus less on trying to find the newest "in" worship song. Perhaps we need to teach our kids to give to the church, to interact with adults, to get involved in church ministries, rather than having mission trips of our own, big events of our own, and special sections of the building that are our own!

Maybe the problem with youth ministry isn't that youth leave the church when they reach adulthood, but that the youth were never part of the church at all.

The New Year, The New Goals

2010-01-04T11:07:00.002-05:00

Here are a list of the goals I have for this year.

1. I want to do a in-depth study of the gospel of Mark and the Psalms. Last year I spent the year studying Lamentations, Hosea, and Ephesians.

2. I want to spend some serious time reading some apologetics. I have never been a big fan of reading apologetics, but its time.

3. Stop drinking soda--so many useless calories, and I'm tired of being dependant on the caffiene.

I just took a sip of soda by the way

4. Develop a quality curriculum for the jr. high Sunday School class. It has been one study time that I have not regulated at all, and its time that we have a consistent learning process.

5. Learn to embrace the what I'm doing at the moment--stop looking forward every few seconds.

I hope that you find your life full of grace and peace through Jesus Christ

-M

Peter: Restored or Authorized?

2009-11-19T10:56:00.002-05:00

As much as I would love to let you all know what is happening in my life, instead I am going to post this little Bible lesson from John 21, because I know this is what Nate wants to read, and he is the one who reads this most often. Nate, you still haven't read/commented on my discussion of Genesis, which I have eagerly awaited.

Now to the good stuff...

At the end of John's gospel, in 21:12-19, we see Jesus and Peter in one of their longest conversations found in the gospel account. Here is the text in it's entirety so you can read it yourself.

"Jesus said to them, "come and have breakfast." None of the disciples ventured to question Him, "Who are You?" knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread, and gave them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead. So, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" he said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said to him, "Tend My lambs." He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Shepherd My sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Then My sheep. Truly truly I say to you, when you were younger you used to gird yourself, and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someont else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had speken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!""

As we begin to think about this passage, it sounds as if Jesus is giving Peter some new task, some new role that he places him in a prominant role of leadership. This has traditionally been a passage that is used to help support papal authority. However, I am convinced that this passage, when looked at in the overall context of the gospel narrative, points to something different entirely. I believe that in this text, Jesus restores Peter to his previous role of disciple and apostle alongside the other ten who remained.

Let's start with a list of things to consider from the gospel account:

1. Peter was a very small character before the passion week. In fact, he was really mentioned in two instances. First, he was mentioned in John 1 during the calling of the first disciples. The second passage is John 6, and here he has one key line. Peter was just one of the disciples in John's gospel. The synoptic gospels place him in a much more prominant role than John. In fact, until the passion week, Thomas plays a more significant role than Peter in John's gospel.

2. The passage of John 6 is interesting to look at. In verses 66-71 is the Johannine rendition of Peter's confession. Immediately following this statement, Jesus replies, "Did I Myself not choose you, THE TWELVE..." Jesus makes clear in this passage that the twelve were his vessal.

3. Jesus prayer in John 17 is that he would not lose any of his initial followers, the twelve, except the son of perdition. This points out that Jesus needs to make sure that the other 11 are ready and equipped to do the task.

4. In John 20, Jesus restores faith to Thomas. Thomas appeared to be on the verge of leaving the faith, and Jesus already prayed that it was necessary for the eleven to remain intact. He therefore restored the first one that needed it, Thomas.

5. Peter became a major character in the passion narrative to highlight his misunderstandings. He didn't want Jesus to wash his feet (John 13), he tries to start a political revolt in the garden by slicing of the ear of Malchus (John 18) and he denies knowing Jesus three times during the trials (John 18). In other words, Peter made a mess of his position. He failed to follow Jesus. He needed restoration too. He needed to be encouraged that he could handle the role of apostle.

So, we come to this text. Let's see what we notice:

1. The context of the conversation between Peter and Jesus is after breakfast. We have no indication that the other disciples weren't listening. In fact, John's writing this makes me assume that he did hear this conversation. If this was a higher role for Peter, I would surely expect some backlash from other disciples.

2. We know the conversation about the "do you love me" phrase. It has been well discussed by every preacher since the beginning of preaching.

3. Perhaps the most crucial phrase is the command following the question of Peter's love. The command is to Tend/Shepherd the sheep. Shepherd was not a role of authority, but a role of service. This was the basic task of the apostles. Jesus is simply telling him that he still can guide the followers of Jesus if he truly does love Jesus. The primary requirement for his role of leadership is devoted love.

4. Jesus again predicts the future of Peter's life. He predicts the death that he will die "to glorify God." It is interesting that the same basic concept of death as glorifying is present for Peter like it was for Jesus. It appears to point to self-sacrifice as a form of worship and glorification.

5. The last phrase to look at is the simple "Follow Me." It is one of the first phrases the disciples heard during his earthly ministry, and now they hear it again. It is time for them to continue following Jesus even though he won't be there to physically lead them.

I love this passage, and I think it is obvious that Peter was not authorized above the other disciples, but restored into their midst. Jesus didn't want to lose any of this followers, and because of this conversation, he didn't lose Peter.

Grace and Peace

Matt

My Life, Recently

2009-11-05T15:03:00.003-05:00

Five things that haven't changed:

1. I am still enjoying my wonderful marriage to my wonderful wife. She brings great joy to me, and a sense of accomplishement that I lack otherwise.

2. I am still a youth minister, and I still love it.

3. I still start reading books, then get bored about halfway through, start reading another book, get halfway through, and then go back to the first book and try to finish it.

4. I still play video games. They relax me when I'm stressed, and they give me a few minutes a day that I don't have to think, which is refreshing.

5. I still spend way too much time day dreaming. I haven't completely figured out the command to only worry about today.

Five things that have changed:

1. My schedule. I used to spend hours every night finishing up lessons and staying up late watching television. We seldom watch TV at night now, and I have found a routine during the day that helps me get my lessons done.

2. My interests within Scripture. Two years ago, I would have cared more about how the 3rd person imperative was used in Scripture, and whether or not John was written in the midst of a Johannine community. Those topics are still important, partially because of poor teaching by many scholars, but I have more interest now in the Bible's discussion of certain topics (such as community, second-coming, and grace). These topics are needs at the local church level, and they are key in Scripture.

3. My attitude about youth ministry. I have decided to focus completely on those who are in my care; to make them disciples. If they become disciples, then evangelism will happen without me coming up with crazy contests and challenges to "bring a friend."

4. My priorities have changed slightly. I no longer think of my schedule as priority, but making sure that I am surrounded by people that can minister to me and I can minister to them.

5. Light bulbs. I changed several off them in the house yesterday. Go me!

Something Goofy I want to tell you about:

This picture

We were taking pictures with the Jr. High for a prayer book we are putting together. Well, when a camera comes out around my young friends, interesting things happen, as you can see.

One Thought That May Be Profound:

The martyrs; own blood, shed in faithfulness to the Lord, turns out to be the blood of the Lamb. When their blood flowed, behold it was the blood of the Lamb. Their sacrifice was united with his--not as though theirs were independently redemptive or added anything to his, but in the sense that, being united, believer and Lord are, in that sense, one: his blood their blood, their blood his. The blood which is the sacrament of obedience is the lord's blood: the wine which is the sacrament of obedience is, in that sense, the Lord's blood." from Charles Francis Digby Moule

Vote For My Next Blog Post:

1. I could blog about the conclusion of John's gospel. The emphasis that John places on the crucifixion, the resurrection, and some other interesting things in the text.

2. I could blog about a song that has prompted a renewed sense of mission in my life. The song, performed by 1000 generations, is called "How Big Small Can Be."

3. I could write an essay type blog about tradition and scholarship in the church, the similarities of mindset, the need for both, and the dangers of over-emphasizing either.

So that's it, until I talk to whoever might possibly read this again, I pray that your life would follow the way of Christ!

Thoughts in a fairly random mode

2009-10-15T09:33:00.002-05:00

So, here are some things that are on my mind:

1. The phrase "the last days." This phrase can cause a lot of trouble for interpreters. I am becoming more convinced as a think about it, that this phrase cannot be interpreted in the same way from book to book in the Bible. Look at these passages and tell me that they all refer to the same thing when discussing "last days." (Micah 4:1-5; Isaiah 2:1-5; Hosea 3; Acts 2:17; 2 Timothy 3:1; Hebrews 1:1-2)

2. I hate when my computer has installed updates and wants to restart while I'm working on things. It just messes with my thought process.

3. I am excited about the books that I'm hoping to read in the next year. They should provide insight into a couple topics that I'm really wanting the study: pneumatology and eschatology.

4. John 11-12 is the definite turning point of John's gospel, but the most challenging passage for me is still chapter 13. The footwashing and the teaching is a challenge to apply. Especially this line, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."

5. I predict the Colts first loss will be @ Baltimore in week 11. They are really capable of winning all of their games, but they have to lose somewhere I think.

6. For anyone interested, here is the list of topics and books that we wills study in Sunday School in 2010: Salvation, 1 Thessalonians, Marriage and Purity, 1 Peter, Ezekiel, Judges, and Mark.

7. The Office is on tonight--and that is good stuff!

Science and Creation: Is Genesis 1-6 written scientifically?

2009-10-07T10:19:00.002-05:00

A couple prerequisites

1. I am not trying to convince anyone that Genesis was written with the attempt of being scientific. Modern science is a modern invention. It is a way to look at the world. However, just because something is not written using the scientific method does not necessitate that it lacks scientific accuracy. Whether we use the scientific method or not, the world functions and actually exists in a particular way. I want to argue that the way the world came into existence according to Genesis 1-6 matches the scientific facts about the world, even if scientists come to different beliefs based upon those facts.

2. I am not claiming that my study of this is nearly detailed enough to be the final word on this issue. I do, however, know that several credible sources would support views similar to my own.

Argument #1: The Order of Creation agrees with the order of theoretical evolution.

My scientific study, though not extensive, focused on biology, and especially on botany. Botanists agree on a certain evolutionary pattern for plants. The first plants to be created were moss and ferns--plants without seeds of any kind and a simple root system. Next came cone bearing plants. These plants developed a more complex root system, as well as a way to create seeds inside their cones. The final plant development according to science is fruit bearing plants. These plants place their seeds inside a fruit--providing a source of protection and food for the seed to better survive.

Look at the wording and order of the plants created in Genesis 1:11

"Then God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth, and it was so."

The categories of plants were accurate, and in the same order that scientists place them in the evolutionary cycle. Scientists would claim these evolutionary changes took millions of years, which is frankly speaking impossible to prove. What we find is scientific accuracy in God's word, even if the human author didn't understand it scientifically.

The same is found for creatures. Scientific order places water-based animals first, birds slightly later, with land-locked animals (not reptiles) to be the last phase of evolution (humanity being the absolute latest).

If you read verses 20-27, you find God creating fish first, then birds, followed the next day by animals who live on land, and finally humanity.

I doubt this is a fluke. Science is looking at the evidence, but they are looking at it through the wrong lens. There is no reason to suggest these evolutions took millions of years, except the refusal to trust the accuracy of the Bible.

Argument #2: The flood of Noah makes accurate dating impossible.

This is a pretty simple part of the argument. Scientists agree that if there was a massive worldwide flood like the one accounted for in Genesis 6, it would make it impossible to date fossil records from before said flood.

Why?

First, most scientists are currently doubting the long-term accuracy of the carbon-dating method. The method is agreed upon for dating objects that are less than 3000 years old, and many scientists still find it accurate up to about 10,000 years old.

There is a wonderful article written about carbon dating and the Flood at the link below, but here is a brief summary of what it says:

1. Carbon dating works only if we had a way of knowing the level of carbon in the atmosphere at the time of the plant/animal died. Carbon-14 is constantly at changing levels based on things such as volcanic activity, carbon-12 emissions, thickness of ozone layer, etc.
2. Every type of plant and animal accepts different levels of carbon into its system, meaning that each plant and animal species need to have separate formulas for measuring their dating: this does not exist. It cannot ever exist for an animal or plant that is extinct, because we have no control group to measure the level of carbon in such live animal.
3. A massive flood would cause normal carbon 12 to be placed in the air in massive amounts, radically changing the amount of carbon 12 compared to carbon 14. Without any definitively dated objects from before the flood, it is impossible to date anything pre-flood with accuracy using C-14 testing.

Without going any further, this points out that this type of testing is pretty much useless.

The flood also ruins the ability of archaeologists to accurately use sedimentary levels to give estimated dates to objects. Why? The Bible says in Genesis 6:11 that "all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the flood gates of the sky were opened."

Water moves dirt. Massive amounts of water move massive amounts of dirt. These levels that scientists try to use are very accurate going back to the flood, because there has not been a disaster of massive portions since then that we are not aware of. We can take into account that a volcano erupted 1000 years ago, and that level is going to be covered with volcanic ash.

The waters of the flood however, would move levels of dirt. Some areas would lose layers, others would gain layers. Trees that stood above the ground one day would be entirely covered in dirt the next. Fossils would be uncovered that were previously covered. The flood caused changes that we cannot even begin to fathom, and it creates many question marks that cannot be answered about the time before it.

(If anyone would want to argue the existence of a world-wide flood, remember that every ancient culture has a flood account, including ancient American cultures.)

My Conclusions

1. I find the biblical text hard to argue with. The bible says we were created in days, and I have no scientific reason to believe otherwise. (Note: The Sun was not created until day four, which means there is a question of how these seven days were measured, but I still think they were literal because the Sun was created to be a time marker for us--which means this time system was already established and the sun was created to help us keep track of it).

2. Stating that the Genesis account is not an accurate account of how the world was created is a step toward believing that Scripture is not inspired by God, and therefore everything that is said is subject to debate and opinion. To argue that the days were not literal days because the Sun was not yet created is a little different, because that is trying to take the text seriously, not trying to judge the text by modern scientific beliefs (which change every 5-10 years by the way).

3. Though the people who wrote the Old Testament were not scientifically minded, God knew how he created the world, and the accuracy of the text is based on God's wisdom, not humanities. If there is something that doesn't seem accurate, which should we conclude: That the God who created the heavens is wrong, or we are?

Here is the link to a great article: http://http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c007.html

I chose this article because it is written from a Christian perspective, so it does mention information about the flood that is not mentioned elsewhere. The basic information, though, is information that I have read in scientific journals and textbooks during my time at Milligan.

Hope this is encouraging and thought provoking.

Grace and Peace

Things that matter little, and things that matter much

2009-09-30T12:03:00.002-05:00

It matters little...

1. Whether or not we know who the Beloved Disciple was, if he didn't find it important to come out and say it, then I don't need to know.
2. that the Qumran community existed. They appear, by all evidence I've read, to be a community of isolationists, which mean they play relatively little role in the surrounding world. John the Baptist, Jesus, and and the disciples were not isolationists, which means their worldview differed from these people. In fact, it appears that Jesus and most of his followers were Hellenized Jews (Jesus spent formative years in Egypt, perhaps even reading some Philo).
3. Whether we use the term Jehovah or Yahweh or LORD. God's name in Hebrew is something like Yahweh, in german that translates Jehovah. The key is that God, and his name, are above every other name.
4. Whether there was a "Johannine Community." Mainly because the gospel of John is evangelistic in nature, not focused on discipleship of an existing community. See chapter 20:30- 31 for evidence.
5. If we call it Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, or Communion. The point is the same. We are called to remember Christ, his death and resurrection, in a community with fellow believers. All three names focus on important things for us to remember during this time.

It matters much...

1. How we translate the Greek word "ouv" (my new office computer doesn't have greek fonts yet, don't hate). The word, mostly translated "therefore" implies a cause and effect relationship between the text before and after it. However, the NIV, and other translations, have mistranslated this word (I think intentionally) in many circumstances. The one bugging me today is John 11:6

2. How we understand the concept of "faith." Many have taken this word and made it as flimsy as head knowledge, or a one time pledge of the heart. But let us remember that favorite Scripture of Martin Luther: "The righteous shall LIVE by faith." Faith is a way of life, and it is all encompassing.

3. Whether you study grammer of words first during exegesis. If you study the words, you may have a "pet" translation in mind before you see the relationship between words. But if you do the grammer work first, you can look for other examples of this word in similar grammatical contructions.

4. What you read. I realize today that I spent most of my last two years at Milligan reading the most critical works concerning the Bible, but that never offered much about how the text relates to faith. What I have discovered looking back is that these academic books often focused on things that were not based on the text, but assumptions about the person/group writing the book. These books failed to follow the scientific method. Thank you Raymond Brown, who I read in my last semester, you showed me how to think logically while focusing on the important issues of the text.

5. Whether we believe Israel at the time of Jesus was primarily Greek or Hebrew. This changes entirely our focus of study. Personally, I believe that Israel was very hellenized. I believe the primary spoken language of the Jews, even amongst one another, was Greek. I believe that Aramiac and Hebrew at the time were primarily used for religious services and festivals.

Bonus: It matters much...

Whether you think the sermons in the gospels and acts are the actual words of Jesus or artistic summaries of their teaching. I believe these are the actual sermons and messages, and that the text tends to give clear indication if more was said that was not written down (see Acts 2:40)

Have a great week!

A Beautiful and Challenging Quote

2009-08-19T15:15:00.002-05:00

This quote is from Joy Davidman, the wife of C. S. Lewis. The quote comes from her book "Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments"

"For many contemporaries God has dwindled into a noble abstraction, a tendency of history, a goal of evolution; has thinned out into a concept useful for organizing world peace--a good thing as an idea. But not the Word made flesh, who died for us and rose again from the dead. Not a Personality that a man can feel any love for. And not, certainly, the eternal Lover who took the initiative and fell in love with us. Is it shocking to think of God as a pursuing lover? Then Christianity is shocking. If we accept the supernatural only as something too weak and passive to interfere with the natural, we hab best call ourselves materialists and be done with it--we shall gain in honesty what we lose in respectability."

I hope this gives you something to ponder today. Never let God become some abstract idea that plays no part in our lives!

Grace and Peace

P. S. Next week, I am going to try to explain why I will not refer to myself as a member of the Restoration movement even though I have attended these churches my entire life.

(Re)Setting Goals

2009-08-07T09:58:00.002-05:00

I love to make lists. I do. I love to make to do lists, to list my goals for a week, to list purposes for programs, etc. If it can be done in list form, that is the way I want to do it. Here is the one problem: I often find my lists half-finished. I find my books half read. I find my tasks half accomplished. So today, I am re-setting a few goals, in list form, and hoping that I can get these goals accomplished by Jan 1, 2010.

1. Finish memorizing Philippians.
2. Read W. H. C Frend's "The Rise of Christianity."
3. Get a morning routine (this one is the hardest by far, I can't find a morning system that works for me).
4. Read an entire work by Augustine. I just really don't like him that much (someone out there is gasping right now) but I have started reading his stuff several times, I need to finish something.
5. Clean my office.
6. Translate the four Gospels. I failed at that this summer, big time failure.
7. Read Moby Dick or The Count of Monte Cristo. These are two classic works of fiction that I want to read, but I only think one will realistically get done this year.

On another note. the HS class is starting a study on John this week, which means we are study the Prologue of the gospel. I ask for prayers of discernment as I try to put all the study together into a lesson today.

I want to leave you with a quote from something I read this week, and in this case, it comes from Proverbs 3:19-20

"By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew."

Today's Thoughts

2009-05-04T13:37:00.002-05:00

It saddens me how little people who have been raised in church know about their movement of Christianity. My own movement, the Stone-Campbell Movement (I refuse to be identified as a Restoration Movement member), has very few young men and women who even know the key figures in our movement. Many don't know why we baptize when other movements don't, why we are a local church only, when other churches have hierarchy, etc. If we fail to understand and contextualize who we are, then we will be doomed to repeat many of the same mistakes of our predecessors.
Keeping in mind the previous statement, I have begun to read a very dense history of the Stone Campbell movement by Leroy Garrett. For several years this was THE definitive history of the movement (though now some other great volumes also exist).
I really enjoyed translating Greek today. It is always nice to be able to knock out a large chunk of text.
The youth will begin studying 1 John during ID next week. I am excited to present another wonderful book of the bible, and study it in light of the probable falsehoods which were growing during the late first century. Also, this means I get to teach about Plato and Aristotle, which is always enjoyable.
Fusion is coming to 4-R Savior Student Ministries. We will be fusing biblical truth with cultural application in a way that is absolutely awesome and exciting.
The more I read about marriage, the more I realize the awesomeness of the task at hand. We are called as married couple to reflect, imitate, and magnify Christ and his relationship with the church!
Camp Wilderness 2009 has a theme! "Wild Kingdom" will explore how God has called us into his Kingdom to live in a radically different from the world around us. July 12-17th!
I was looking through some old books that I was given, that at the time I just shoved on my bookshelf. I realize that I have some awesome resources. For example: Ancient History by Myers (copyright 1904), and 1 Corinthians by J. W. McGarvey (copyright 1916). I love this stuff.
1 more week before we take two weeks to talk about biblical marriage with the youth group, and I can't wait.
I might just buy some books from the spring sale on christianbook.com I hope my wife will let me.
And finally, I am pretty sure that we are just over a month before my younger brother gets married, and that is an exciting prospect.

In Him and for His Kingdom

Matt

A melting together of thoughts

2009-04-15T14:49:00.002-05:00

Here are the thoughts for today

After 11 months of planning a weekly game, I am officially out of ideas. Games are not my strong suit, and they are not the things that most excite me about ministry
I am really looking forward to having more time to read and plan in May. The month should be a great time to get some extra work done that will make the youth ministry here at LCOC much more effective.
I think I have an idea for a book, we'll see how the idea progresses.
I really want to start taking some classes at Valporaiso U. The thought of being in a classroom filled with people eager to learn excites me.
Camp Wilderness is coming this summer, and I am super excited about being the dean. Our theme verse for the week is Psalm 63 (especially verse 1).
I feel like I have hit a crucial moment in my spiritual life. It is one of those times that I will either allow myself to settle into a rut spiritually, with no growth for an extended period of time, or God is going to show me a really amazing transformation that I need to make in my life, that will lead to a deeper and more fruitful relationship with Him. Be praying that I take the plunge and go deeper.
I have decided that after I finish re-reading the Harry Potter series, I'm going to read a few classic novels in my spare time (Sorry Brian, I didn't want to read any Dekker right now. I will at some point, I promise). Here is my current list of contenders: 1. Moby Dick 2. Ulysses 3. War and Peace 4. The Three Musketeers 5. Raintree County (written about my home county) 6. Dracula
Let me know which of those I should start with.
I have begun doing an extensive amount of reading on marriage from a biblical perspective. It is a really great topic, but it also challenges me to be a more God glorifying husband.
I'm really into history at the moment. I can't decide which era I want to take the time to study the most right now. Medieval or ancient.
I love puppies. They just create a warmth in my heart.
I'm done with this now, and I'm going home.

Matt

Help me pick a book!

2009-04-08T09:30:00.002-05:00

I say this because I am trying to decide on a new fictional book to read. Here is the list of criteria I am using to pick a new fiction book to read:

1. It must not be written about pop-culture. I would prefer to read something set in the Industrial Age or earlier.
2. It must convey some reality about the human condition.
3. It can be any major genre except mystery--I just don't want to read a mystery right now.
4. It must make me think.
5. I would prefer it to be between 200 and 600 pages. I don't want something super short, but I don't want to spend a year reading it either.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

On the other side of my reading list, here are the non-fiction books that I am reading right now.
1. Passing the Torch of Liberty
2. Comeback Churches by Stetzer and Dodson
3. Pushing the Limits: Unleashing the Potential of Student Ministry
4. The Mystery of Marriage by Mike Mason
5. A Betrayal of Innocence by Peters

After this round of non-fiction books, I really want to read something theological. I am thinking that relating to the culture of ancient rome, or maybe something about Reformation/Post-Reformation history. Any suggestions there would be awesome too!

Sticky Church conference

2009-03-31T07:24:00.001-05:00

I am heading to the Sticky Church conference in about twenty minutes. I will update this post after so that the concepts can be shared.

Hosea: Beyond the textbook answer

2009-03-25T13:42:00.003-05:00

Many of you who read my blog (if there are enough people to constitute saying "many") know the Bible fairly well. With that, you have probably read through the Bible, and read some material that introduces you to the main themes in each biblical book.

Hosea is typically described as the prophet who married the prostitute. The major lesson is always condensed into a sentence or two like this intro from the Zondervan Handbook to the Bible:

"Hosea is a book about love, God's love and human love. It is also about human responsibility, about the choices for or against God that Israel had to make, and that we too have to make. Wrong choices have consequences for our lives" (page 486).

I do agree that love is a theme within Hosea, and responsibility is stressed as well. However, there is so much more in the book of Hosea than these two themes. In fact, I think the major theme of Hosea could be better summed up in one major word: gospel.

Chapters 1-3 use the example of Hosea and his wife to display the relationship between God and Israel. The remaining 11 chapters are much more typical prophetic writing, and all of it sounds like the truth of the full gospel. Just listen to these passages from Hosea:

"I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot." (2:13)

"Therefore, I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her...There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the days she campe up out of Egypt. In that days, declares the Lord, you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'" (2:14-16)

"In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord." (2:18-20)

"Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." (6:1-3)

"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man--the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. They will follow the Lord; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling form the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt. like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes, declares the Lord" (11:8-11)

This is just a small illustration. The entire message is that Israel (and in a larger sense humankind) has turned away from God; we have sinned. But though God is angry, God would not come in wrath. He would not totally destroy his people Israel just like he wouldn't destroy his earth entirely in Genesis 6. Instead, he came with compassion. he came with love. He came with a way that made it possible for us to "dwell in his presence."

He came as the man Jesus Christ. This entire book is a shadow of the truth to be found in Christ. Let us never accept anything less of this book. It is not just some beautiful poem. It is not just an Old covenant example of God's love. This is a proclamation of the New covenant on its way!

Let us treasure the truth found in Jesus always, and let us proclaim it as gospel (good news)!

Grace and Peace

Answered Prayers

2009-03-18T10:41:00.002-05:00

If you are not a member of Lowell Church of Christ, the name Pam Brewer may not mean anything to you. If you are a member of this community, she has been in our hearts, minds, and prayers for most of the last year.

Shortly after I arrived at LCOC last summer, Pam was diagnosed with ALS. It is a disease that has no cure, and it is terminal. Though the disease supposedly has no hereditary nature, Pam lost both her mother and a sister to this illness. It tends to work slowly, and cause lots of pain for the inflicted.

The community at LCOC has spent much of the past year praying for healing. We prayed in private, in groups, and as a congregation asking that God would allow her to be healed of this disease.

Tuesday, the disease finished its work, and Pam Brewer left this earth to be with the Lord. Though some would look at this situation and see God ignoring our prayers, I see that God answered our prayers in ways that were better than could be imagined. Let me explain.

First, we prayed several months ago that Pam would be able to sing for her husband one last time (the disease attacks muscles and makes it hard to breathe). A little over a month after we started this prayer, she recorded a CD of some of her favorite hymns and choruses so that George may show their grandchildren the beauty of her voice. God answered that prayer.

We prayed that God would be glorified through this terrible circumstance. I have witnessed Pam and George reaching out to others in pain from sickness and death in a way that no one else could. They showed the mercy of God to others even in the midst of their hardship. God was most definetly glorified.

Tuesday morning, during our ministers meeting, we recieved news that Pam was not doing well. We prayed that morning that if it was not God's will to heal her, that he would not allow her to suffer a long, painful death. We recieved a call less than 10 minutes later telling us that Pam had went to the Lord. God took her quickly, and in so doing healed her forever.

As a Christian, I hate death. Death is a product of sin (see Romans 5:12). I hate the fact that death exists. Sins existence means that death also exists. However, we do not weep at the death of Pam, because though death exists, its sting is gone.

"When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the moreal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swalled up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:54-56

We miss Pam, but we do not grieve that she is gone. We celebrate that we know where she has gone.

Therefore, let me close with two quotations. First is a quote from James Wheldon Johnson the famous poet. Second, I will quote the next verse from 1 Corinthians 15.

"Weep not, Weep not
She is not dead,
She's resting in the arms of Jesus"--JWJ

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor n the Lord is not in vain."--Paul

Grace and Peace

Thoughts

2009-03-13T09:55:00.002-05:00

I think that salt makes food extra addictive.
I think that Hosea has been one of the more fruitful devotional Scriptures I've used recently.
I think that there may be a reference to the resurrection in Hosea.
I think I want to challenge you find it.
I think that dogs really are man's best friend.
I think that my body is ready for warmer weather. I have started to crave grilled food, fresh fruit, and baseball.
I really want to go to the mountains, but I still haven't found the right weekend.
I love the introduction to Gordon Fee's commentary on 1 Timothy. He presents the argument for Pauline authorship without wasting too much paper.
I think movies are becoming a thing of my past. I can't trust any new movies being released to be quality productions and Christian in content. Just read a review for Watchmen for an example of the licentiousness in film today.
Shaun Groves is quickly becoming one of my favorite worship leaders.

In closing, here are five questions that I'm pondering today:

Is it better to be mentally or emotionally stimulating as a teacher?
What theme should I use for Wilderness camp 2009?
What is fact and what is fiction within our typical understanding of Satan?
Which book should be my next book to read (this list doesn't include the commentaries that never leave my side)--Comeback Churches by Stetzer, Getting Fired for the Glory of God by Mike Yaconelli, The Mystery of Marriage by Mike Mason, or Pushing the Limits by Calhoun?
Why is it that the sins we consider "little" are also the ones that are hardest to shake (think lying, obeying parents, etc)?

God Bless

"Men are we, and must grieve when even the Shade
Of that which once was great, is passed away."--William Wordsworth

Lamentations

2009-03-04T09:01:00.002-05:00

I have always been kinda strange, and that pervades every part of my life. Even when it comes to some of my favorite parts of Scripture, I am somewhat different from the typical mold. I'll give you a few examples before I come to my point:

1. I am more interested in looking at the "bad" kings of Israel and Judah than I am looking at the life of David.
2. During personal devotional time, I find myself studying OT far more often than NT.
3. I don't ignore Revelation, I use if far more often than most (and I don't use it to tell people the world is ending in a couple years because of some shocking sign that has been hidden until now!)

So, now that you know I'm slightly strange, let me explain why that matters. The OT book of Lamentations is one of my favorite books to read. I have been fascinated with it for years. Here is a book that many Christians didn't know existed, many who did know of it still couldn't find it in their Bible, and those that know where it is read it about as often as I read the obituaries in the newspaper (I stick the the comics typically); yet I love this book.

Here are a couple reasons that Lamentations is wonderful:
1. It is inspired by God.
2. It is dreadfully honest. The author is completely frank with what sin has done to him. He does not blame anyone outside of the guilty party, which includes himself. He and the rest of the nation had been judged, and they are done trying to justify their actions. This is exactly how sin will be uncovered in the final judgement--no more hiding, no more excuses.
3. There is still hope in the midst of utter despair.

For this last point, I want to quote just a couple verses from chapter 3:19-26

"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for this compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Even in the midst of our sinfulness--it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Proclamation

2009-02-20T11:46:00.003-05:00

This is a short thought, but I love the implications.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

"For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

When we eat the Lord's supper--we are all proclaimers (preachers). We are all evangelists. We are all proclaiming with one voice our singular faith in Christ Jesus.

Awesome.

Addicted to Mediocrity

2009-02-11T11:04:00.002-05:00

I started reading a book by Franky Schaeffer yesterday. It is titled Addicted to Mediocrity. The book is about how modern Christianity (over the last 100 years or so) have abandoned the arts; we have abandoned the creativity that was present in the earlier years of Christianity.

This has raised some questions for me:

Why do most churches avoid using peoples artistic ability outside of the children's program?
Why do we not see more "classical" instruments in worship (the trumpets, the symbols, etc)?
Why do we get nervous about painting, sculpting, dancing, etc?

I know that there are OT passages referencing not worshiping images carved out of stone, but does that mean that we cannot have any type of artwork? Look at the tabernacle. Everything was covered in gold, fine stones, beautiful tapestries. This was a place where the beautiful, creative God dwelt, and it showed his beauty, and his creativity.

Why have we abondoned that today?

Popcorn post!!!!!

2009-01-30T14:44:00.002-05:00

So, I decided today that I needed to update, but I am in a very random mindset right now, so I'm going to post this old school style: the popcorn format.

Here are my thoughts:

I have a new puppy! She is a three month old Sheltie (Shetland Sheepdog) named Lucy. I think she is adorable, but Scooter is still not too sure about her. I'll have to post pictures sometime.
I really love books that have short chapters. The shorter chapters some how can keep me engaged even if the book is long and complex. I just don't like having no place to "take a breath" while reading. I like lots of pause.
I am super excited about the Student Ministries right now. We are beginning to implement the changes that I believe will help lead us to a place of growth. 4-R Savior Student Ministries will launch this summer!
My brother gets married in a few months, I am one of the best men, and I think that is super cool! I can't wait to celebrate on the beach with Nate and Kristen!!!
I think my greatest fear is that the modern church, or my church, would be like the church of Sardis. I don't want to look alive and be dead.
I am listening to Bethany Dillon, and I haven't done that in forever.
I am only starting to realize the faith of Abraham's willingness to give up everything and trust God with his life.
I am itching to play Head Coach 2009. I haven't played it in about 2 weeks.
Pondering...what does Sabbath look like
I have found a Max Lucado book that I really enjoy. It isn't a popular one. It's called "When Christ Comes" and its his look at Biblical passages concerning the end of time. Very different from anything I've ever read about this subject.
The three words I most want to hear from Jesus: you are worthy. (See Revelation 3:4 for this one).
Have you ever wondered who discovered/invented Jello?
I realized today that I have seen way too many movies.
I want to leave you with a quote of the day...or maybe of the week, I don't know

"Did you mean that you were going to put in a kennel?"--Jack White

Thanks for reading and God Bless

Revelation

2008-12-30T16:05:00.002-05:00

So, I want to post a question, just to get the opinions of those of you who read this.

What is the primary purpose of Revelation?

Is it primarily historical or futuristic?

How should present day readers apply Revelation to their lives?

Just thought I'd pick your brains if your up for it.

Grace and Peace

"When the fulness of time came..."

2008-12-10T10:56:00.003-05:00

Anyone out there reading this probably knows me, and therefore knows that I love Christmas. It is my favorite time of the year, and if I had my way I would keep decorations up and watch the Christmas movies all year round.

What you may not know is why I love Christmas so much. Obviously, I am a minister, so you are all expecting me to answer by describing the birth of Jesus. In one sense, you are right. My favorite part of Christmas revolves around Jesus, but not in the way you may think. You see, most Christians would think about the traditional narrative, which is roughly half biblical and half tradition, and say that is their favorite part of Christmas. I love Christmas not because of the fun stories of magi and shepherds, angels and sheep, an innkeeper and a little drummer boy, but because of something much bigger.

The cross.

My all-encompassing passion in life is the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

Now, you may ask (no really, ask me), what does the birth of Jesus have to do with the death of Jesus?

Great Question.

I could answer two ways. First, I could tell you that logically Jesus could not have died for our sins if he had not been born. That is true, but it also isn't anything groundbreaking.

My second answer is straight more interesting. The Bible ties the birth and death of Jesus together.

Let me show you.

Galatians 3:26-4:7

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."

Read that again.

We were all slaves. Slaves under the law--the principles of this world. We were slaves to the law because the law condemned our inadequacies. We were unable to get to God. We were unable to do enough. We were stuck. We were destined to live, and die, as slaves.

So God acted.

God sent his Son. Almighty God sent his Son.

Born under the law. In other words, he was born in a way that forced him to live within the constraints we live. He had to live with boundaries.

To redeem those under law. Jesus was born under the law to redeem. Now, as Bible students we know that it was the death, not the birth, that redeemed sinners to God.

So Jesus must have been born with the singular purpose of death. Born to die.

Jesus came, at the fullness of time--the perfect moment, the perfect season of this world--so that man would finally be reconciled to God.

I love Christmas because it begins the Passion of the Christ. I love Christmas because Jesus God begins his redeeming plan.

Remember, Christmas is not about the shepherds. It's not about the magi. Its not even about the stable, the manger, Mary, or Joseph.

Christmas is about God, and his loving desire to bring his people back into a relationship with Him.

Grace and Peace

NFL: My in-season awards

2008-11-19T15:13:00.002-05:00

So, if you follow NFL football, you know that every week sports writers are giving their projected award winners for all the different important awards around the NFL. I think I want to do something similar, but try to look at the numbers without all the hype. So, instead of a biblical post today, here are the first annual In-Season awards by Matt Shedd.

MVP candidates: These candidates are not judged primarily on "monster" stats, but on their ability to positively improve the rest of their team.

1. Ronnie Brown-Running Back for Miami.
Why? If you look at the stats, Brown does not carry the ball as much as other premiere running backs. However, without him, the Dolphins would not have their famous Wildcat formation. He is averaging over 4 yards per carry, and has nine rushing touchdowns. He is the heart of this offense, and he silently leads this team.

2. Brandon Jacobs-Running Back for New York Giants
Why? He is a truck. He has 11 rushing touchdowns. He is fourth in rushing yards. He is playing in the toughest division in football. He continues to run through the best defenses in football (exhibit A--Ravens game last week).

3. Andre Johnson-Wide Receiver for Houston
Why? He leads the league in receiving yards. He plays on a team with no talent around him. Teams double and triple team him and yet he keeps getting the ball. Hard to beat that.

The winner=Brandon Jacobs

Offensive Player of the Year

only two players have earned this spot. Drew Brees of New Orleans and Kurt Warner of Arizona.
Both are having monster seasons. Both have done so with their top WR's injured. These guys are rolling over anyone who they play.

Winner: Kurt Warner because his team is winning.

Defensive Player of the Year

1. Joey Porter-LB for Miami
Why? He leads the league in sacks. He plays to destroy his opponents. He doesn't do all the work for this defense, he leads the others into stepping it up too.

2. Nick Collings-CB for Green Bay
Why? He is tied with his teammate for most interceptions in the league. He is a shutdown corner. He helps out in run coverage very quickly. He helps lead this excellent pass defense.

3. Barret Ruud-MLB for Tampa Bay
Why? He leads his team in tackles. He stops the run. he defends the pass. He rushes the passer. He does it all and he does it well. We may not know his name, but we should.

Winner: Nick Collins

Breakout player of the Year
Offense
Lance Moore-WR for New Orleans. Look at his stats. He was a bench player coming in, now he is a starter, maybe even a star.

Defense
Melvin Bullitt-SS for Indy. He has 50 tackles as a saftey, and is tied for second with four picks. He was supposed to be the backup to Bob Sanders, but now they are finding ways to play both of them together. This guy is going to be good.

Other Players that need some recognition:

Matt Ryan: Rookie of the Year
Dwight Freeney: Guy who got his groove back
Adrian Peterson: Best runner who doesn't know how to win.
Matt Cassell: Never played in college, but even he can score points with the Patriots wideouts.
Peyton Manning: Stats for the Year: 2568 yards 17 TD's 9 INT's, 61% completion rate. Yea, the media is right, he is so washed up...

Thats about it for now, but I hope you enjoyed.

Lifting the Cross

2008-11-05T14:39:00.002-05:00

Jesus was a rabbi.

If you are reading this, take a moment and let that statement soak in.

Rabbis were teachers.

Rabbis were the elite.

Rabbis had followers

Rabbis job was to train those followers to be like their Rabbis.

Jesus was a rabbi.

Only the smartest Jewish adolescent was able to follow a rabbi. The brightest would approach a rabbi, asking if he may follow. And the rabbi tested him. Questioned him. Then the rabbi would either say "follow me" or "go with God."

Jesus was a rabbi.

A rabbi taught his followers not primarily with his words, but with the way he acted in every situation. Whatever the rabbi did, so did the follower. What the rabbi ate, so ate the follower. What the rabbi wore, so wore the follower. How the rabbi treated to poor, the rich, the powerful, and the weak, so did the follower.

Jesus was a rabbi.

but not just any rabbi.

Jesus did not wait for the best to approach him. Jesus sought out his followers. Jesus tested not the candidates. He chose the lowliest without precondition.

Jesus followers followed him, imitated him, acted him out as any follower should do. When Jesus healed the sick, his followers healed also. When Jesus ate with the rebel, so also his followers ate.

When Jesus walked on water, so also Peter, the most determined follower, stepped out on the water.

Jesus followers were trained and empowered to be Christians, "little Christs," people who acted, thought, talked, and walked with the teaching and power of Jesus.

Jesus was a rabbi

A rabbi was to be followed.

Jesus was followed by multitudes.

Jesus died on a cross

Jesus death was sacrificial.

Jesus did not fight at his death, but remained silent, as a sheep heading for slaughter.

Jesus carried his cross.

Will you carry yours?

"and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."
Matthew 10:38

Ephesians and God's plan for us

2008-10-13T13:49:00.002-05:00

In the past year, I have spent a considerable amount of time reading, re-reading, translating, re-translating, studying, meditating, dissecting, and analyzing Ephesians chapter one. I remember reading my freshman year at Milligan and being shocked by a word I had never noticed before: predestination. At the time, the prospect of predestination existing in the Bible, and not just in the mind of "heretical" theologians, both shocked and scared me.

What was I to do? Well, for the better part of two years, I ignored the passage entirely, until I took a class that included Ephesians as one of the topics of study during my final semester at Milligan. I even decided to go further, and study this passage on my own as often as I could. I decided, finally, to trust in God to provide for me the insight needed to advance spiritually. If I found Calvinistic predestination, then it was gospel. If I found Armenian theology, it was gospel. Whatever the Bible taught, I would accept, and learn to love.

What I found was better than I could have ever imagined. What I found was not primarily a theological statement (most of the Bible isn't) giving a detailed account of how God's sovereignty affects man. It was not focused around systematically detailing a theological pattern (although it is rich with theology). The focus was bigger, more magnanimous (sorry if I'm being sesquipedalian), than any theological treatise could that exists!

I found praise. Eph 1:3 says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." The rest of the passage is about why Paul is praising God. Praise is not uncommon throughout the Bible (just look at the Psalms), but this passage stood out to me among all the rest. Why? The theological nature of the praise.

In the modern era, it has become increasingly trendy to seperate theology from worship. Our worship songs are emotional driven (and often self-centered). I honestly struggle to sing such songs without first hearing quality exposition about the greatness of God. I struggle singing the same four phrases over and over, even if they are extremely true statements. I struggle because my worship flows not just from my emotional heart, but also through my knowledge of what God has done through Christ. My worship flows from my theological understanding.

I challenge you to read Ephesians 1:3-14 and look at the theology that is the basis of the praise for Paul. Paul overflows with theological statements centered around one main theme: God's eternal plan through Christ. Look it over, read it, study it. I will talk about some of the statements, including the discussion of predestination, in my next post. I hope you will see that when you study the richness of the true biblical theology, praise is the natural response!

Until next time I wish you grace and peace through Christ Jesus our Lord

Matt

Life Beyond College

2008-10-06T09:41:00.003-05:00

So, I am finally at a point that I feel able to spend some time each week writing a couple blog entries.

I recently graduated college. I took one week before beginning work at Lowell Church of Christ. I say this not because people reading this are oblivious to what I've been up to for the past several months, but because I want to talk about the oddity that is life after graduation.

When you spend a summer during school working, you have a set timeline (10-12 weeks). You have goals that you want to accomplish and you set your plans into motion nearly right away. You also have a definite time when you will return to school and see all those friends whom you have truly shared your life with for the past couple years (on a side note, Christian College in some ways is the best example of Christian community I have ever experienced in the United States).

Life after graduation is different. After graduation you think that you have this great thing going, you don't ever have to worry about going back to school (by your senior year you will be ready to leave), but when the month of August rolls around you start to realize just how different your life has become. You don't know when you get to see your friends again. Many of them you have not heard from in months. There is a small sense of loneliness that sets in (even when surrounded by friendly faces).

Beyond this, you lose the structure of classes forcing you to study deeper. As a minister the temptation every week is to do only what is needed to take a lesson deeper than the people in your study, which frankly requires little effort. You have to plan ways to make yourself study passages in depth.

I am not saying this as a way of saying I wish I was still in college. Rather, I am expressing one area of struggle for a new minister just out of college.

Well, I like to end my posts with a little section of "popcorn" thoughts"
*The Colts game was amazing yesterday
*My backyard will soon look really nice
*Ministry is a life spent being pulled in conflicting directions
*Ever ponder the word redemption?

I leave you with a paragraph from Dr. Phil Kenneson from his book Selling Out the Church:
"We also think that pastors and their congregations would do well to rethink the way they conceive of preaching. Too often, preaching has been stripped of its ability to embody our belief that God is speaking through the preached word. Too often pastors and congregations act as if this activity is merely another form of human communication that we hope God will use. But if this gathering is like no other human gathering, if this preaching moment is like no other form of human communication, then perhaps we should preach (and listen) as if something different is going on."

Grace and Peace

Unity: Is It A Lost Cause?

2007-09-10T14:20:00.000-05:00

I have taken the last couple weeks to ponder this question before I typed this post because I wanted to be careful not to write something either too optimistic or pessimistic. Here are my thoughts about unity.

I believe that unity has become the single biggest lost cause in the church. I do not say this because we are fragmented, but because the vast majority of Christians do not want unity. I have heard several ministers and lay people alike over the past two years go out of their way to point out the errors in those "other" Christians. We would rather argue a point, even if we don't have a clue what we are arguing, than sit down and discuss the issue rationally with one another. I think it has become lost because we are too busy as churches looking for marketing schemes to target a certain audience and bring them into the church. We become so business-like (albiet we have good intentions) that we inevitably spend more time trying to package our version of Christianity as better than the other versions available that we lost sight of a key fact: those are other Christians.

A pastor whom I respect deeply recently broke my heart. He is a minister in a Christian church, a movement whose three guiding principles includes church unity, and he was giving me advice about my life after graduation. I told him that an American Baptist church was interested in hiring me and he informed me that if I left the Christian church, I would not be welcomed back into it. This broke my heart; the movement founded on unity would not accept one of its people crossing the denomination lines to minister to members of the Church. How could this be? How can we ever achieve unity if we are not willing to communicate?

However, though this cause is definetly a lost cause in my mind, it is not a hopeless cause. I see hope for the future. One of the main reasons for my hope is that we have become ignorant Christians. Yes, I just said that. The majority of Christians sitting in the pews do not know the difference between baptists and methodists and presbyterians and non-denominationalists. We have become theologically inept. First, let me say that I do not believe our ineptness is a good thing. It can, however, open up the door for a unity that the church has not seen for hundreds of years. If we, as ministers, set out to teach the Bible without preconcieved notions of doctrine, and we are able to get church people to get excited about the Bible, we will be able to achieve unity.

Why is excitement about the Bible the key to unity? Because there is more talk about love in the Bible than predestination or free will. Because there is more talk about unity than the nature of communion (I mean, if God wanted us to know if Jesus was being transubstantiated or consubstantiated or merely symbolic, don't you think he would have said so?). I think the majority of the arguments between churches do not rise out of the Bible as much as they rise out of our explanatory terminology about the Bible.

Second, excitement about the Bible is key because it will point us away from another major cause of disunity--preference. American Christianity has become more about preference than doctrine. Do we prefer narrative or expository sermons? Contemporary music or hymns? Emergent church or historical liturgy? There is not that option in the Bible. The Bible does not point us to argue about personal preference but to share in love. The Bible teaches us to be the last person, not the first--our personal opinions should be the last thing we think about. I would love to see a church that did a worship service with bluegrass one week, contemporary praise music the next, and traditional hymns the next. It would help us all to realize that the reason we are there is God, not ourselves. People would come together more if we did not give them so many choices to help them seclude themselves.

I also think that they unity cause is not lost on a local level. If ministers and lay people in communities decide to come together to discuss doctrine, if they come together to worship despite differences, and if they come together in love, then unity can be accomplished at a local level. One person is probably not going to unify the entire church worldwide, but one person can begin to take steps to create loving unity among the three or four or five churches in his area. Imagine how awesome a testimony that would be for a community!

As a final note, I will also say that I think as the church in America becomes more persecuted, we will become more unified. When outside pressure grows, we have less ability to focus on inward resentment.

In conclusion, unity is a lost cause. However, the pieces are in place for us to find that cause again, and bring it to the forefront of Christianity once again.

The peace of Christ be with you...

Is It A Lost Cause?

2007-08-27T22:44:00.000-05:00

I am in a class this semester called about the Unity/Restoration movement.

When I think about unity, I often think: Is it a lost cause?

I am going to post a big post about this later this week or next week. I wonder what you think. Do you think that unity is a possibility, or is it a lost cause to try to work toward?

Any thoughts?

to Christ alone is my loyalty given

2007-04-22T12:28:00.000-05:00

Vacation Bible School is one of the great forces that impacted my young life growing up. I remember vividly many of the lessons, activities, crafts, and people which made VBS such a great experience for me.

The reason I bring VBS though, is not for the lessons planned by the leaders, but for the lesson taught unintentionally by the VBS processional. The processional, as I am going to call it, is during the first part of the day of VBS. The leaders would find some students to carry the American flag, the Christian flag, and an ancient Bible the size of a coffee table to the front of the sanctuary. We would then pledge our allegiance, in turn, to these three items.

What I began to learn then did not become apparent until recently. I had learned to place my allegiance to country either equal to or above my allegiance to Christ. Now this is not in any way an intended lesson, but it was a lesson I learned. Think about it with me. The three flags come out being led by the American flag. The three pledges are stated, starting with the pledge to the American flag. What we are essentially telling our children is that allegiance to the state is more important than allegiance to Christ. I heard in a sermon a couple weeks ago that when Christians in America are polled about what is most important to them, the church comes fourth. Behind family, country, and work.

I noticed how this message is being portrayed to us in many areas all the time. For example, there is a flag pole here on Milligan campus. It sits at the top of the hill, so it is seen all over campus. At the top of the flag pole is a giant American flag, much to big for the pole itself. It covers over 1/3 of the overall height of the pole. Beneath this flag, and much much smaller, is a Christian flag. The message: Christianity is a of secondary importance.

Jesus has this to say in Matthew 5:33-37:

"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And to not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no,' 'no'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

This passage clearly states that oaths, or pledges, should not be used by Christians at all! The word allegiance actually means "the loyalty of a citizen to his or her government or of a subject to his or her sovereign" (Dictionary.com). When we say that we pledge allegiance to the US, we are saying we are completely and utterly loyal to them. As Christians in this day and age, we should know better. The government is moving more and more radically away from a "Christian" worldview, yet we keep pledging. Shame on us.

Regardless of the attitude of the government, we should not swear an oath to it. We should not allow any symbol of Christianity to be placed subserviently to any political flag.

I pledge no more to the world, or any government. I am a Christian, and I serve Christ alone.

2007-03-27T22:52:00.000-05:00

I have begun reading "Contemplative Youth Ministry" and will post thoughts and quotes as I proceed in the next couple days.

God Bless

Relevant issues

2007-02-25T23:08:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am a youth minister. Yes, I have issues with the word relevant. I think we have vastly misconstrued what it means to be a follower of Christ under the premise of being relevant to a culture who needs to see Christ.

I am not against a pure idea of relevance, only the way it is acted out in our world. Let me give you an example. The Relevant Magazine website has this statement under its "What We Believe" page:

RELEVANT is a multimedia company looking to impact culture with the message that even though religion may be seen as irrelevant, a personal relationship with God is a relevant -- and vital -- aspect of a fulfilled life.

Within this statement is a wonderful phrase; "a personal relationship with God is a relevant--and vital--aspect of a fulfilled life." That is true relevance at its core. As Christians we should seek to show that God cares for people. We should seek to tell the world that we are still sinful, and therefore, a Savior is still relevant. We should show the world God's love by being meeting their needs. A good definition of relevant is "connected to the matter at hand." Therefore, from my perspective, it would seem that being relevant would mean to be intimately involved (connected) with the things that people most desperately need. I think that is what Paul means when he says in 1 Corinthians 9:21-23:

To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

However, this is not what the idea of relevant tends to mean in our churches. Relevance in our churches and in our lives is defined more like this: Understanding and imitating the culture we are within in order to popularize Christianity.

That is essentially all we are doing. Look at the mission statement from Relevant Mag. again, it is a "multimedia group." This shows that what they are about: media. Take a good look at their website and you'll see that the focus is often more on the media than on Christ. Today alone they have a vote on who should be named best actress at the Oscars. How is the answer to that question going to help show Christ's relevance? Browse through their website some more, and you will see even more things that are disturbing. For example, one article praised a group for contextualizing their faith by passing out socks and cigarettes to youth (http://www.relevantmagazine.com/pc_article.php?id=7330). The reason for this disturbing me? These are Christians passing out a harmful substance that is illegal to youth to show that they care! How crazy! Somewhere along the line we have lost the point.

Somehow we have come to the conclusion that becoming part of a culture will make people see Christ as cool; as worthwhile. Look at churches throughout the US to see the truth of this statement. We are seeing waves of projectors, sound systems, video equipment, comfy chairs, and coffee shops coming into churches to show the world that Christ loves them. Huh? I think that if we search for the truth it would be that we have become more zealous for the things this world offers than the things which God offers.

I am not saying that these things are bad things. Is there anything sinful about a sound system that can pump out a wonderful sound for thousands of people? No. However, when there are people around us who are poor, who are hungry, who are homeless, who can't afford coats for wintertime or shoes that fit, and we have decided that the best way to show them the love of Christ is to imitate a rock concert, then we have missed the point!

It goes beyond our churches and into our personal lives as well. We watch movies with inappropriate behavior so we can "understand the culture." We spend $80 for a pair of designer jeans so we can relate to the younger generation. We are worshiping idols, and claiming it is for Christ.

Remember, as I close this post, that the early church was not buying but "selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need" (Acts 2:45 NASB). They were a community of true caring to show the relevance to the world. Jesus did not say that we needed hip equipment to reach the masses, he said, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me" (Matthew 19:21 NASB).

Diagnosis of Ephesians 1:11-12

2007-02-21T23:12:00.000-05:00

This study will actually begin with the last two words of verse ten, because they are part of the sentence which we are studying. It is always better to study the Bible sentence by sentence rather than verse by verse, because thoughts were produced in sentences.

I must admit that this is a verse and a post that I would have avoided posting for most of my life. However, I have always confessed that I would believe whatever the Bible told me, as it is the testimony of the Word of God, namely Jesus. Within those pages is Jesus, the living, breathing, exalted and glorified Savior. Therefore, though this is a difficult passage for a Christian Church man to discuss, I must.

The sentence, as written in the NASB is as follows:

"In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory."

The first step we must take is to find the main clause of this sentence, then find how the other clauses build around it. The main verb is "we have obtained." This translation, though not bad, is not perfect. The verb is an aorist tense and the helping word "have" is designated for the perfect tense in the indicative. Also, the phrase here is in the passive voice, therefore, it is not "we obtained" but "we were obtained." The words "an inheritance are not really in the passage, however, the phrase "ev ho" is. This phrase would almost repeat the phrase "In Him" from the end of verse ten. Therefore, it is very possible that the first "in Him" is part of the previous sentence. This is also observed by the nature of the "kai" post-positive in this phrase. It is translated "also", meaning that the verse starts "in whom we also were obtained."

So, all the remaining parts of the verse are based on this main phrase. The next phrase is "having been predestined according to His purpose." This phrase is pretty straight forward and accurate. The word predestined here literally is "being decided from the beginning" or "being set apart from the beginning." Notice again the passive voice; it is not US who do the action, but someone does the action to US. The "according to His purpose" phrase tells us that us being set apart has been done for the purpose of Him. Notice that the past tense of these verbs and participles that all this has happened before the time of the speaker. This could mean that this set apart is either from the beginning of all things or from the beginning of their Christian walks.

The next phrase, beginning with "who," tells us more about the "Him" we have been speaking about. The only major note is that the word "counsel" is actually the word "purpose." Therefore, He works all things to the PURPOSE OF HIS Will. Notice the importance of the words "all things." The word "works" is actually a participle, but is translated very correctly because of its purpose.

The next phrase begins with the word "to." The Greek word "to" meant literally "unto." It is the destination of the main clause. Therefore, this is the purpose of our being obtained. The NASB does a great job of showing that by saying "to the end" meaning "to this ultimate purpose." This last part is the key of the entire verse! So, the purpose of our being obtained is that we, who were first to hope in Christ would be TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY.

Conclusions:
-God is the active agent in the sanctification of sinners, we are not.
-God is working all things, not just good things, but all things to bring his will about. Tsunami's, Hurricane's, Wars, and Famines are part of God's plan as much as all our actions as Christians.
-The purpose of our conversion is to praise and lead others to praise HIS glory! This is not a passage that supports any self-righteousness, but supports the need for us to be honest about our sinfulness. We need to proclaim the good news of God that he saved us while we were sinners! Notice that there is no greater calling than to glorify God, no greater task for us than to praise the glorious nature of the Holy One.

Well, that is what I have, please critique it. Perhaps I've missed something key.

Grace and Peace