Fun thing… The power went out in the prayer room for about 2 hours this morning. It started during the 6 am and went straight through most of the 8 am set my team leads and I play keys on. So, I sat there on the front row with the rest of the room in the pitch-black dark just singing to God with Ron leading the way on an acoustic guitar with 6 singers on the platform, a couple more guitars, Joel on some drums, and Catherine on Cello. It was actually quite nice. Right as the power went out and all the sound system and web-stream broadcast collapsed, the room rallied to the place of prayer and corporate worship. Worship. That’s about all you can do when you can barely see what’s in front of you and you have to question and realize why you’re there in the first place: Let’s minister to God! I loved how a blackout reminded us of this. This is about Him whether or not anyone else is watching. Oh, that we would truly worship in the secret place where He’s waiting for us (Mt. 6:5-6), that we truly find Him when we search for Him with all our hearts, not just with our lips (Jer. 29:12-13). There is nothing better than that; to get HIM! To get His friendship and to hear His secrets when we bare our souls and tell Him ours (simple understanding of friendship, see Ps. 25:14 in the ESV, it’s pretty cool). All He’s really after is that exchange of love and prayer in the secret place. He’s looking for friends. He’s really after your heart, and He’ll do more than a blackout to get it.

Sometimes it takes a disruptive cessation of all the clutter and noise and busyness of the day-to-day-mundane to actually realize that He is right here, (He’s not a God afar off- Jer. 23:23-24) waiting and longing for one thing, to see your face and hear your voice (Song 2:14). Will you answer His invitation? Will you set apart a time to where you are actually coming to Him in the place of vulnerability; exposed, weak, helpless, and contrite (Is. 66:2)? You will find He will start talking to you too, all you have to do is enter the conversation.

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” -Jesus

I highly encourage you to read this important, convicting article by John Piper about television and movies. It helps explain why so many Christians are more vulnerable to immorality than ever.

Here’s a little foretaste:

“If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.”

Another:

“One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.

TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it.”

Is not God’s love for the unbeliever (like John 3:16, Ps. 36:5-6) a love for one who has broken covenant?

Hosea 6:7, “But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant…”

If all the sons of Adam, as C.S. Lewis brilliantly described the boys in Narnia (Man in Hebrew is Adam), have likewise broken covenant, this implies 2 things, 1. That God made covenant with man BEFORE the Fall, and 2. All of us, BEFORE we became believers, were covenant-breakers.

If so, this brings New Testament understanding to the Hebrew word for love, “Hassed”; denoting a steadfast, covenantal faithfulness.

If this love is for unbelievers, it means much. It means that God doesn’t have different types of love, one limited type of love toward unbelievers and one vastly different love toward believers. He has one love, the Love that He Himself is, a covenant-keeping love. This changes the way I think God deals with man, He deals with us on the basis of covenant, before and after we fell.

What are the parameters and elements of covenant? These I will explore in the future. For now, let’s think about God’s love for the unbeliever as possibly being a love for one who has BROKEN COVENANT..

(Please comment and tell me what you think)

Truman

UPDATE: Deadline to enroll extended to May 15th! Get on board!

If you are 18 or younger, live in the States, and want to go against the tide and do a little, hard thing this summer, I think you should enroll in the National Bible Bee.

I found out about this through the blog (via my RSS feed I have set up in Mail) of Alex and Brett Harris (the younger twin brothers of Joshua Harris, the “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” guy). They lead a movement called “The Rebelution”. If you haven’t heard of it, I highly recommend it; it’s the Word of the Lord for my generation. In a sentence, it’s “a teenage rebellion against the low expectations of an ungodly culture.” And calling us to “do hard things” (also the name of a book they wrote), not just coast along with our culture, but actually LIVE the gospel for display of the glory of Christ in the earth before His return.

Ok, back to this. The first-of-its-kind, a world-class Bible Bee Competition. It is very similar to a spelling bee, except contestants are required to recite Bible passages and facts rather than spell words. The competition will begin with Local Contests in communities nationwide on September 12, 2009. The top 100 finalists from each age group will advance to the National Contest in Washington, D.C. to compete on November 5-6, 2009. Not only that, the National Contest awards (if you win in DC) are crazy. For age 15-18, the grand prize is $100,000 (yes). For age 11-14 it’s $50,000, and age 7-10 is $25,000 along with 2nd and 3rd place prizes for each age group. Check it out the awards here.

It’s twenty bucks to enroll (but less if siblings sign up together) and you sign up with your parents online. The DEADLINE to enroll is now May 15th. Check out the details of the Bible Bee on the website. It’s sweet! You have to be 7-18 years old and I just qualify by a couple months.

As youth, this would be a great opportunity to go deep and hide the Word in our hearts by memorizing it and we would have fun together! From April 30th to Sept. 12th, you have over 4 months to study and memorize with their provided study guide (includes all content that we will be judged on) that you can download and print on May 1st (day after enrollment deadline).

Let’s be those who wield the sword of the Spirit! In a day when culture entices us to fill our minds with trivial “stuff”, I want to be a tree planted in the house of the Lord who meditates day and night. Honestly, I find myself constantly “resigning up” for reading the Word, but I think this is a gift of God to have me commit to something that will hold me to the Word. If the Lord stirs your heart like He’s stirred mine, I would go for it! It would be so much fun if we all did it in our communities and youth groups and held each other to the Word in memorizing/studying it. Let’s SPREAD THE WORD and get whole youth groups doing this!

Also, one last thing, the more you read the Word, the more you talk about it (it’s really true- Mt. 12:33-36, what goes in must come out), and if youth groups and friends did this together, I think it could be said of us like John Wesley said of the congregation in Herrnhut, they were those “whose conversation is in Heaven” (i.e. So filled with the Words of truth and life and edification that we are little concerned with the passing fads of the world that hold no substance like the latest movie or latest restaurant, but instead our mind and our hope and our joy are set fully “on things above”, on Christ- 1 Pet. 1:13, Col. 3:1-3) and if this be so, I believe it will set the water level for youth groups in this nation and in schools and on soccer fields, causing us live out this passage: “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture…” (1 Tim. 4:12-13) I want us to be so filled with the Word that we’re contagious weirdos and bold witnesses of Jesus to those who don’t know Him.

-Truman

http://www.biblebee.org/

I got to watch my nephew, Joshua Kim, tonight. He was having a hard time going to bed (There is something so stirring about hearing a baby’s cry when he can’t fall asleep). At the instruction of my sister, I gave him a bottle and laid him down; no relief. I then gave him the remainder of the bottle. I turned off his noise-maker and just sat in silence with him as I laid him in his crib. This wasn’t the first time I had done this, so I decided to go with my secret weapon: patting his bottom. He quieted down as the noise-maker stopped static-ing and I stopped talking; it was just… presence. His eyes were fully awake, but he was calm and he even held my finger for a bit. I stayed there with him for a good ten minutes, amazed to see how not unlike him I am. In fact, the same cry of Joshua resides in my own heart. I felt the words quietly slip off my tongue, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb. 13:5). Perhaps all Joshua wanted was somebody there to just be with him. To be truly alone is dreadful indeed. After patting him for a good while, I slowly got up and sat in the rocking chair next to the crib. I wasn’t going to leave him.

Perhaps, amid all that jumble and muddle of noise we surround ourselves with is a whimpering cry for the Lord’s presence and acceptance that would hold us and never leave us. You are a gaping thirst for God. You need, therefore you seek. All I can say right now is just the invitation the Lord is extending to me, “Let me be with you”. That is really how he feels about us in our crying and whimpering. What I felt with Joshua is but a glimpse of what my Father in heaven feels towards me. Amid all the noise of things we have to do and people we should minister to, could we stop and just be with the One who loves us and accepts us regardless of what we do? I often find myself unable to minister to others when I have not first been with God as a son and a friend. To let that cry for acceptance (presence) come out is vulnerable indeed, but God loves the true you, not what you do. Maybe the story of a child will give you enough boldness to come as one and to cry as one.

The identity of God as Creator cannot be understood apart from His Governorship. And His Governorship cannot be understood apart from His identity as Creator. Therefore, they cry day and night, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power (as Governor),
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created (creation implying ownership implying right to rule).” (Rev. 4:11)

I am stirred by 2 things, David Pawson visiting IHOP and speaking on God’s role for Israel in the New Testament (tonight was about Revelation) and John Piper’s message to pastors from the 2001 Shepherd’s Conference. (Outstanding! Matt Candler recommended it to me; you can hear it here)

We know that persecution awaits us (“Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” Timothy 3:12, “we have been destined for this” 1 Thessalonians 3:3) just as the Spirit warned Paul what awaited him (Acts 20:23, see Acts 9:16). Paul’s encouragement to the churches he revisited was this: “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22) Does this sound like the “prosperity gospel” we hear today? That a good business and an easy life awaits you? No, persecutions await you. And the only explanation for your life, as you fill up what is lacking in the display to the globe of Christ’s afflictions (Col. 1:24), will be the explanation that you WILL rise from the dead on that day.

The Book of Revelation (along with Hebrews, I think you could say) is a “Manual for Martyrdom”. Throughout chapter 2-3, we see promises given “to him who overcomes/are victorious…” God wants a victorious church in the End-Times.

What does a victorious church in the End-Times look like? I want to give you a brief glimpse. Take these two seemingly contradictory passages right next to each other,
1. “…they (the brethren/the saints/you and me) overcame him (Satan) because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” (Rev. 12:11)
2. “It was also given to him (the Antichrist) to make war with the saints and to overcome them…” (Rev. 13:7)
I believe one is from heaven’s perspective, the other is from earth’s perspective. What looks like the greatest defeat for us will be our greatest victory. Many think the End-Times is something to dread. I beg to differ. It is something to be have the fear of God over for sure, but also it is ultimately the greatest thing to rejoice in. Why? Why are we singing “Hallelujah!” while Babylon is getting judged and drinks the wine of the wrath of God in full strength (Rev. 19:1-6)? Punishment is to be rejoiced over since it is the means by which the restoration of all things is accomplished. We love God’s judgment because it is the living proof that God is committed to bringing the world back to rights. That’s what the End-Times is about. Our witness (The word of our testimony about Jesus) is about this; that the God who created all things good and perfect will bring all things back into original good and perfection. But then how is that supposed to encourage us in the face of death? How are we supposed to use this gospel/word of our testimony and overcome Satan with it?

One more passage:
Revelation 7- Why are the ones who die, one by one “coming out of the great tribulation” (7:14, implying they have gone through it) shouting, “Salvation to (comes from) our God who sits on the throne and to (from) the Lamb!” (7:10, quoting Ps. 3:8 as well as Prov. 29:26)? Imagine us being those martyrs. Guess what? Death is not the end. Like I just asked before, how is the gospel of restored perfection supposed to encourage us in the face of death? I think it’s the very message of the gospel: Original perfection is that we were never intended to die, therefore, the gospel strengthens us by putting our hope not in temporary relief from pain and sickness, not in the comfort of a good life of long age and being able to see your grandchildren, but in A MAN who holds the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:17-18), who is the firstborn from the dead (Rev. 1:5, implying we, as His brethren, shall be raised after Him), “who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:21). Therefore I say to you, Church in the 21st Century, in THIS WAY, in THIS GOOD NEWS, stand firm in the Lord! (Phil. 4:1) It is to live in such a way so that the only explanation for your life is that you will rise from the dead. That would be a life that is incarnate testimony. A life that says, “HE IS GOING TO RESTORE ALL THINGS AND WILL SUBJECT ALL THINGS TO HIMSELF. HE IS GOING TO RESTORE MY VERY BODY. SALVATION COMES FROM OUR GOD AND FROM THE LAMB!” I didn’t even hit on the “blood of the Lamb” or “did not love their life even when faced with death” yet… hopefully more to come. To help walk this out, go meditate on Psalm 49.

I think we may at times take prayer for granted. But I dare to wonder if there is any greater honor or privilege in all the earth than to talk with God. God made us for partnership with Himself, and God never intended for us to have partnership with Him apart from conversation with Him. Can you imagine a husband and wife never talking with one another? How should we expect to be forerunners and do the same?

Here is a quick excerpt from a news report on this tragic and scandalous event.

Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique gave Sycloria Williams laminaria, a drug that dilates the cervix, and prescribed three other medications…

Williams went into labor and delivered the baby.

“She came face to face with a human being,” Pennekamp (Williams’ attorney) said. “And that changed everything.”

The complaint says one of the clinic owners, Belkis Gonzalez came in and cut the umbilical cord with scissors, then placed the baby in a plastic bag, and the bag in a trash can. Williams’ lawsuit offers a cruder account: She says Gonzalez knocked the baby off the recliner chair where she had given birth, onto the floor. The baby’s umbilical cord was not clamped, allowing her to bleed out. Gonzalez scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.

At 23 weeks, an otherwise healthy fetus would have a slim but legitimate chance of survival. Quadruplets born at 23 weeks last year at The Nebraska Medical Center survived.

Lord, expose the dark work of abortion in this nation for what it really is.

update: Comment from a pro-life blogger Christina Dunigan, whose blog is wonderfully called, “RealChoice”:

Something to keep in mind amidst all the outrage: Things like this are literally an everyday occurrence. The strange and shocking aspect is merely that it’s being reported, talked about, and perhaps might even lead to prosecution.

Thank you very much, Christina. I encourage everyone to go to her blog and read her post about the event (It’s linked in her comment) and then watch the video she has posted there. It is powerful and very sobering. The last baby she mentions in the video, a baby named Rowan, is the same true story that inspired Angel Soto to produce the movie, “22 Weeks”.