Paul's Letter To Timothy

Paul had a special relationship with Timothy.  He might have been the only father figure to Timothy, certainly he was on the only source of Hebrew teaching the lad had!  So, Timothy, half Jew, half Greek, but a heart sold out to the God of his mother's people.  And Paul wants him to pastor the Ephesus church and writes him a letter of instruction ...

1 Timothy 1:1-2

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

² To Timothy my true son in the faith:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

To build a strong church, you have got to take your directions from this little book.  Paul had the authority of an apostle - one sent by Jesus, one whom had seen Him risen, one whom had devoted his life to the Gospel of Jesus.  That authority then is of God.  And as such, Paul taught, as Timothy was to, the Bible - not popular opinion.  What generally got Paul in hot water and may have even brought him death at one point!

We can only find our hope in Jesus.  There is no other basis for hope in this life, nor in the next.  And that hope is in the resurrection from death, as demonstrated by Jesus.  Not in a faster chariot, better horses, more concubines, wealth, etc - all of the things man seeks and brings sin with it!

Basing all upon Jesus, we are actually reaching ahead into the days of prophesy but also reaching back into the Torah and Jewish tradition.  Did I hear someone choke out there?  Yes, Christianity is supposed to be Judaism extended to the Gentile as well as the "completed" Jew!  For all of the horrible theology of the western world today, the thought that salvation is not extended to the Jew is flat racist!  The thought that Christianity is anything other than the continuation of what God started under Judaism can only be defended without the Bible!  The Bible is clear - you as a Gentile believer have been been grafted in to the root stock of the vine God planted - His people.  We are not replacements, we are not now "His People", the Jews still are!  But, we have got to reach out to the Jew and show them the way back to their God!

We are to rejoice in what God has given us.  And He makes available to us all we need but we often confuse desires with need and His plans.  It is the self satisfying ways of Western Culture which have led today's believe away from God and into the trap of materialism and once there it is darn hard to escape!  Even if your eyes are finally opened, just the task of getting out past debt can be a life long challenge.

The point of this post is that I had been speaking with a guy from my church, whom is burned out on Church, on people, on everything.  Why?  Because he has forgotten the basics of what the Church is based upon and now must reorient himself back to the basics.  It also means he is going to be kicking some tushes at the next business meeting because we have placed encyclopedias of trash upon the very basics of what we are to be ...  :)

What We Know

As my discussion with my friend the other day continued, at times fruitful, at others leaving me to question what on Earth is it that any of us can know for certain!  Different cultural backgrounds, life experiences, even an age gap creates misunderstanding and miscommunication galore!  Yesterday's post was the product of our original discussion, social inequalities, but it became philosophical and I always strikeout at that point!

So what can you, I, or anyone know for certain?  Back to the basics -

1 Timothy 1:15-17

We can know that the story about Jesus is true.

• He was born
• His stated goal was to break the cost of sin
• We each must agree

 We can know that this truth is universal and deserves acceptance.

We can know the very plan of God.

• To save us out of our sin

We can know our great need for Him.

• Paul declares himself the greatest sinner
• Jesus' coming to this world was personal
• The gospel should therefore be personal to each of us

We can know that we are God's Mercy on display.

• To demonstrate Jesus
• To show evidence of our own sin and failings
• To show evidence of God's Grace
• To show that God's Grace can reach even you!

 We can know where our praise belongs.

•  All praise is God's
• All praise is only God's

The Sin of Nothing

Please read Matthew 25:14 - 30.

So I was talking my friend and we started talking about privilege and how it pushes some down and raises others up.  Well, the conversation went sideways and my points were used outside of their context and all became a mess, however it set my mind to working on a real issue in this age in which we live, by way of application ...

Doing Nothing With What You Have Been Given Is A Sin

You are to take risks!
Being a SLOTH is a sin.  consider Proverbs 22:13
Being overly cautious with what you have been given is a sin.
Being fearful of failure is a sin.

I am allowing for some common sense here in this discussion!

Take Inventory!
What are your assets?
What assumptions do you hold that stand in your way?

Take Responsibility!
We each have 24 hours in a day, but we choose to use them differently.  consider Proverbs 19:3

NOW THE IMPORTANT STUFF!

So, the above is all well and good.  But ...

And this is where it gets hard in this culture to understand - there is no but!  If you disagree, just read on.

If you claim to be a Christian,
If you really are a Christian,
If God is using you (and He will if  the other two are true),
Then know that this world is not the end all to anything! 

You were not created for this world!  You are a representative of God - an ambassador for His coming Kingdom, anything/everything you have is supposed to be God's.  Anything you earn is because of God.  Anything stolen from you was God's.  God will put you where you need to be.  God said that He is responsible for providing your needs (assuming you are working!).  It is when we forget any of this we fall into failure, then sin.

Because we are not a part of this world, those of the world will be exalted before us in the eyes of all and richly rewarded by the world!
We will be cheated, we will be passed over for raises and promotion, we are guaranteed the short end of the world's stick! 
If you live your faith (not obnoxiously) you will be the "queer" one of your work organizations.  Expect not be invited to parties, nor to lunch.  You get to be the one gossiped about and to have extra work reviews - because you are just not "right".  If you over produce, your work will be credited to others because you made them look lazy (which they are!).

No, you will not be treated fairly or justly - because they did not treat whom you represent fairly or justly!
And, nothing need ever be said, what is in them is opposed to what is in you!

It is just that simple.

And where Dave Ramsey and his ilk fail:

Yes, God provides for you, He may even bless you abundantly - But, those are His provisions and are to be used by you for HIM and HIS efforts.

Nowhere is there even a hint of tying up HIS assets in CD, Bearer Bonds, become a slum lord, stock market baron, etc.  If God allows you a buck you need to use that buck wisely in supporting yourself and HIS work as well.   If God allows you a million buck, exact same principle, but can you live at the same level and allow God to have the excess?

Nope, gotta invest for tomorrow, because I have no faith He can supply those needs tomorrow, like He did today.

And for all of the Ramsey-ites out there, once you are out of debt, you are now burying God's money rather than investing it in His business!  And when He returns, which of the slaves with the talents do you think He will apply to you?  Hint: He does not care about your accumulated wealth - He gave so you could too.  And, you did not,  you invested in materialism and accumulated wealth, not in His Kingdom ...

Musical Saturday Morning

Well, it is the first of the month again and what better way to open up the new year than with some of the worst of the 1980's?!?!?!?

Before there was Miley Cyrus, Bananarama was.
Before there was Elizabeth Hurley, Bananarama was.
Before Twilight anything was known, Bananarama was.
Before lip-sync was fully understood by bands doing British video, Bananarama was.
Before choreography was attempted on British film, Bananarama was.
Before music videos were understood by the British, Bananarama was.

What does all of this mean? Each of them is a clue as to just where I rate this group!  Think in terms of someone, a kid at the time, watching this video and then said, once they were an adult in the cinema industry, "Hey you know a female devil sure would be cool, I wonder if Elizabeth Hurley is available ..... It would be epic!"

Well, no not really, it is just that Bananarama was that bad and so were all of the other ideas above!  So, as I was sniffing around for November's musical selection I stumbled on this forgotten gem and well yeah, I had to post it sometime!



And still a more believable vampire romance than Twilight anything...

Peru

"Have a little fun for a change!"  With these words from my friend I was left to wonder what kind of fun!  What I think is fun, others find mind numbingly boring.  And really, what fun is there around here?  But, my friend has been proven to be wise, often in advance of when that advice was needed.  So, wise words, best heeded.  I guess.

But, there is one thing I have not done, have promised I would do in October but just never had the money to - the Peruvian Exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.  So, I went.

I did not know that as a museum member, I get into the exhibit for free, so cool start for an evening!

The exhibit was well worth pretty much any price.  The artifacts covered roughly 3,000 years of Peruvian history.  Artifacts in gold, silver, copper, shell, wood, ceramics, terracotta, exotic feathers, wool, cotton weavings, etc.  The pre-Inca exhibit was incredible for all of the gold and silver and the bits of culture they have discovered.  They worshipped the sun and moon.  The sun was gold, the moon silver and it seems an awful lot of people lost their heads in their ceremonies.

One group of 30 something guys was stuck on the ritualistic sex artifacts.  Really?  I might expect that of junior high schoolers!  So they made it easy to avoid that section.

The Inca presentation was devoid of metallics - thank you Pizarro!  But the ceramics were outstanding!

Then the Spanish era, heavy with its ornate forms of pseudo-Christianity.  Again outstanding at the work the natives produced for a pagan god the Spanish had beaten into them.

The post colonial exhibit was sort of a yawner.  Nowhere near the workmanship levels their ancestors had produced in the past.  I would have been embarrassed to have any of my work shown next to the treasures of this exhibit - and yes, I can do much better than 80% of those modern pieces!  (so why don't you!?!?!?  Hint, I am not an Inca descendent, lol ...)

It took me exactly one hour to do it all, the museum recommends 20 minutes!  It closes on the 5th so if you are in the Seattle area - DO IT!!!!!

Afterwards, i took myself downstairs to the gift shop and bought the book of the exhibition, then off to dinner at the SAM Taste (bistro?).

Their menu had been modified to provide Peruvian experiences and I did order and eat one of everything Peruvian!  It was outstanding ... simply outstanding!

So my dear friend, your suggestion was right on the money as usual.

Thank you.

:)

To Stand in Faith

Satan had a hay day with me on the first, a very hard day.

It was klutz day from beginning to end.

I was upset for my in my spirit, I guessed at something I would have no way to know.
I was injured because this weighed upon me and distracted me.
Car after car I touched, died.
Finally, I almost had one ready again for the road - when the screws and then the screwdriver - simply disappeared.  And I do mean disappeared, "poof"!

I stopped.  I realized Satan was beating on me again - we had left the realm of reality ...

He had hit me last night and though it hurt, I could try and shrug it off.
And each hour of the first got harder and harder.
Finally, I could no longer shrug off the elephant in my brain, spirit and emotions.
And I caught myself.

I realized that under my old nature, faith was quite simple - God will do what God will do - I will follow.
Under my new nature of last year, faith is not so simple.  God will do what God will do - I will bleed and/or follow.

I stopped and put down my flashlight - it was no use in finding my lost screwdriver - it was gone.
I realized that I can be the natural man and go with what I "know".
Or I can stand in faith upon what is not obvious at all, but what I have been "told" in direct opposition to all knowledge and common sense.

God never called me to stand where it is convenient or safe.
He never promised anything to me.
He did however call me to be and to do what He commands.
No matter how illogical it all appears.
No matter how badly my new nature is damaged.
No matter whatever the fallout.

I can cut and run.
I can stand and burn.

Sorry Satan, I choose to stand.
And yes, I do fully understand that cost.
I only worry that others may be scorched, whom lack all understanding.

Happy New Year

Well, welcome to 2014 ...

If that seems strangely put, well, all is not well in my spirit.

I stood only blocks away from the fireworks, with binoculars watched ...

And I trembled for what I had long guessed.