The Gospel according to Jesus #2

Jesus had a clear mission statement:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
(Luke 4:18, 19 ESV)

How much of this is the mission statement of the church today?
How much of this is the mission statement of my life?

Surely the first step in determining whether or not I am a true follower of my rabbi is by being obedient to HIS mission and not my own.

I suspect that much of my mission is inspired by personal motives and determined by human opinion…

The Gospel according to Jesus

“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any word in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. ‘My God,’ you will say, ‘if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I every get on in the world?’ Here in lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”
- Soren Kierkegard, Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Søren Kierkegaard, ed. Charles E. Moore (Farmington, PA: Plough, 2002), p.201.

Have I been a true follower of Jesus today?

“To say: “No! Lord” is a contradiction in terms. Yet many within the Christian church want the comfortable compromise of conditional discipleship… But the truth is uncomfortably clear: if Christ is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all.”
- David Watson (Discipleship, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1981 p. 24)

I have a strong suspicion that much of the theology that gets debated one way or the other, much of the theology that I even hold dear might really just be a mechanism that mankind has devised in our ever active and often subconscious rebellion against God.

God’s Word is not hard to understand, there are a few difficult passages here and there but the overall message and teaching is simple, after all Jesus did not come to the learned and the religious leaders but to the poor, the sinners and the outcasts.

The challenge is to stop making excuses for our wicked self serving hearts and just get on with the business of obedience to our Rabbi. Preach the kingdom, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead and help the needy in any way we can. Live a simple life, live an obedient life.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. (James 1:23, 24 ESV)

I am preaching to myself more than any one else!

Delight in God

I have been blessed time and time again when I have interacted with my good friend, Floyd McClung. He is the sort of man I cannot help but admire. Despite his towering presence he is a man for gentle humility and deep a love for God and for people.

Recently, Roxy and I have been reading through his book, Following Jesus (published as Follow in the US). And we have been struck by the beauty and simplicity of Floyd’s message. In this section he speaks about the influence that one of his college professors had on his life.

Mark of the Beast

Scary image for effect

And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Rev 13:16-17

I have never been one to get overly excited about end-times prophecies, I tend to be of the opinion that as we see things unfold we will recognize them in scripture. But lately I have been giving this mark of the beast  thing some thought…

The X-Factor

i don’t have DSTV so i can’t follow idols (i think that’s a good thing) but i do know from my previous idols viewing experiences, that the key to finding that one person who stands out above the rest, who is going sell a billion albums and make Simon Cowell even more ridiculously rich, is that ever illusive X-Factor! Till this day nobody has a clue what that is but everyone recognizes it when they see it.

Robin’s research paper on the family

My friend and co-labourer, Robin Mentor, has recently agreed to help me by serving as a research assistant, something he is really very good at! We are starting a series on the family in our morning services and so he has compiled his work and written this report for me. So I figured I would share it with the rest of the world.

Our Wedding

Hi all!

It’s been quite a while since my last blog, that was largely due to the hectic time at the end of last year as we prepared to get married! So as I write this I do so as a married man! YEAH!!!!

I figured the very best way to get back into the swing of things is not to write a blog about some theological stuff but rather just post a whole bunch of pics from our wedding for your enjoyment. One thing I have realized, chicks digg looking at wedding pics, so this one is for the ladies! Enjoy!

Amazing FREE online study tool!

If you, like me, are too poor to purchase expensive Logos Software (no bad on Logos, they do a great job!) then you will love this free online tool to help with all your exegetical study needs!

Check it out: Bible WebApp

Thanks to John Dyer!

Rise Africa Rise!

If you believe that God has not forgotten about our continent but instead has great revival plans for our people then check out this blog:

Rise Africa Rise Blog

I think God is just waiting till enough people have given up hope for Africa so that HE can show the world what HE can do when all hope seems lost!

Raised, Seated and Ruling!

“These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” Ephesians 1:19-21