I facilitate a bible study/small group here in Ballarat on Sunday nights when I'm not out and about around the division. This bible study is based on the Nooma DVD's (which are great by the way) but the DVD is really just a starting point and the conversation can go anywhere after that.
While thinking about some of the stuff in my prep. for the study/group i began to think about what it meant to be in a right relationship with God, and also what it meant to be in a right relationship in general.
The more i thought about this the more i felt led back to where it all began; the garden of Eden.
When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, before the whole Apple incident (not the computer, for those who don't know the story grab a Bible and check out Genesis chapter 1), they had a right relationship with God. Genesis 3: 8 says that Adam and Eve heard God walking through the Garden at the time of the evening breeze. Imagine what that would have been like to walk through creation with the creator at your side. Adam and Eve spent time with God naming the animals, they knew what it was like to hear God directly, to actually be in his physical presence!!!
Adam and Eve had a right relationship with the animals. They did not have to fear any of the animals because they all ate plants (see Genesis 1: 30) and the animals didn't have to fear Adam and Eve because they too were vegetarians (as much as i hate to admit that, being firmly against not eating meat) (see Genesis 1:29). It was only after they ate the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, realised that they were naked, hid from and were found out by God that this changed. Because Edam and Eve ate the fruit (not necessarily and apple, but it will do for the example) God had to kill an animal to provide them with clothes (so a vegetarian caused the first animal to die!!!).
Before the 'Apple Incident' Adam and Eve had a right relationship with nature, not having to work so hard to cultivate the food that grew from the earth. After their expulsion from Eden this changed (check out Genesis 3: 17-19)
Before the 'Apple Incident' Adam and Eve had right relationships with each other. They understood each other, in fact the bible tells us that they were as one (check out Genesis 2:24). Now no one really understands each other, and peace is far from a reality in our world.
So how do we as Christians restore ourselves and our world to right relationships??
Here are a few of my ideas:
Right with God:
This side of eternity what Adam and Eve had is impossible, but, anything that vaguely resembles that would be awesome!! The best way to get right with God is to stop sinning. Christians often call this Holiness. I dont know about you, but I know that I'm not perfect, I still make mistakes, but I'm trying to make those mistakes less frequently. Also, lets try to seek God more intentionally, because the bible tells us that when we seek Him we will find Him (Jeremiah 29: 12-13). Lets try to spend quality time in devotion prayer and bible reading with God.
Right with others:
This one should be easy, Jesus taught us so much about how to be right with others (check out Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7). Love those who hate us, care for the poor and oppressed, go the extra mile, don't retaliate, return good for evil, etc,etc.
Right with animals:
Probably not really possible this side of eternity, but lets care for them, stop cruelty towards them (it is still ok to eat them, just kill them cleanly), care for their habitat, which leads me to my next point...
Right with nature:
Let me preface this by saying that I don't consider my self to be a "Greenie" but I do think we need to be careful in what we do. I hope to have kids one day, and would like to leave them and their kids a planet to live on (assuming Jesus hasn't already come back!!). So lets look after the resources we have. The ozone hole is a perfect example of us being out of a right relationship with nature; we pollute, disrupt the natural balance and then get skin cancer because of it. Lets try to use renewable energy, reduce the energy we are using, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure you get the idea.
Being in right relationships is not going to be easy, but it will be beneficial.
Remember the right thing to do isn't usually the easiest thing to do, in fact, the right thing to do is often the hardest.
"The popular thing isn't always right, and the right thing isn't always popular."
-Someone very wise, I just cant remember who (is it in the Bible??)
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
The Team and The Coach
First of all, oops!!
Somehow when i wrote this post on friday somewhere between me finishing the writing, finding a you tube clip and posting the blog, all of the text vanished into cyberspace.
So here is a very similar post to what i had written:
The last few weeks have been a very hectic time. There was kids camp, then basketball carnival and then officers fellowship. At onw stage i think i had spent one night at home out of a total of 12 or something like that.
The Salvo national basketball carnival was good. I had a great time, met lots of new people and learnt a lot too.
The first thing i learnt was that will power can only hold a cold at bay for so long.
Just before kids camp i started to feel that rough sore feeling at the back of my throat that so often precedes a cold.
All the way through camp and then carnival i willed myself to stay well and not get sick. I also prayd to God "Please dont let me get sick while I'm away, i need to stay well." Well God answered my prayer, and i satyed well until i got back. In hindsight i guess that i should have just prayed that i wouldnt get sick and left it at that. Now i have a cold, and although i am starting to feel better, it is really frustrating. I hate being sick.
The second, and probably far more interesting thing that i learnt, though it actually is more like i had it re-revealed to me by God was the importance of working together as a team in Christ.
It may surprise some of you to know that i am not a great basketballer. For those of you who saw me this you would already know. As far as hitting baskets and scoring points went, some games i wondered if i could have hit water if i fell out of a boat, not a single shot would go in!!
Fortunately for my team mates, i wasn't completely rubbish at every aspect of the game, and i did improve as the carnival progressed. It turns out that im not to bad at boxing out (the term used to describe keeping opposition players away from the rebounding ball after a shot) and i can take the odd rebound or two.
This is like us in the church. Not all of us are meant to be the pastor, not all of us are meant to be in the welcoming group at the front door, not all of us are meant to be yout or childrens workers. We all have a different role to play in our local church, and our local churches all have a role to play in our city/town/neighbourhood.
So if your job is making sure that the hall is clean for church on Sunday, don't feel discouraged, because your job is very important, just because everyone doent see you doing it, doesnt make it unimportant. If the church was dirty, who would want to come into it??
It's up to us to make a difference, none of us are exempt form telling our friends about Jesus, but we all do that in different ways, which is important, so that we can reach different people.
In 1 Corinthians 12: 14-20 Paul says:
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body
Lets all work together for the benefit of the Kingdom of God, and if that means scrubbing a toilet or two, im ok with that.
Somehow when i wrote this post on friday somewhere between me finishing the writing, finding a you tube clip and posting the blog, all of the text vanished into cyberspace.
So here is a very similar post to what i had written:
The last few weeks have been a very hectic time. There was kids camp, then basketball carnival and then officers fellowship. At onw stage i think i had spent one night at home out of a total of 12 or something like that.
The Salvo national basketball carnival was good. I had a great time, met lots of new people and learnt a lot too.
The first thing i learnt was that will power can only hold a cold at bay for so long.
Just before kids camp i started to feel that rough sore feeling at the back of my throat that so often precedes a cold.
All the way through camp and then carnival i willed myself to stay well and not get sick. I also prayd to God "Please dont let me get sick while I'm away, i need to stay well." Well God answered my prayer, and i satyed well until i got back. In hindsight i guess that i should have just prayed that i wouldnt get sick and left it at that. Now i have a cold, and although i am starting to feel better, it is really frustrating. I hate being sick.
The second, and probably far more interesting thing that i learnt, though it actually is more like i had it re-revealed to me by God was the importance of working together as a team in Christ.
It may surprise some of you to know that i am not a great basketballer. For those of you who saw me this you would already know. As far as hitting baskets and scoring points went, some games i wondered if i could have hit water if i fell out of a boat, not a single shot would go in!!
Fortunately for my team mates, i wasn't completely rubbish at every aspect of the game, and i did improve as the carnival progressed. It turns out that im not to bad at boxing out (the term used to describe keeping opposition players away from the rebounding ball after a shot) and i can take the odd rebound or two.
This is like us in the church. Not all of us are meant to be the pastor, not all of us are meant to be in the welcoming group at the front door, not all of us are meant to be yout or childrens workers. We all have a different role to play in our local church, and our local churches all have a role to play in our city/town/neighbourhood.
So if your job is making sure that the hall is clean for church on Sunday, don't feel discouraged, because your job is very important, just because everyone doent see you doing it, doesnt make it unimportant. If the church was dirty, who would want to come into it??
It's up to us to make a difference, none of us are exempt form telling our friends about Jesus, but we all do that in different ways, which is important, so that we can reach different people.
In 1 Corinthians 12: 14-20 Paul says:
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body
Lets all work together for the benefit of the Kingdom of God, and if that means scrubbing a toilet or two, im ok with that.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Transformers
When i was a kid i loved the Transformers cartoons. Throughout the years the Transformers concept has changed, with different series using new and different characters. But this year i was excited to hear that there would be a new Transformers movie released. I found this out at about the same time that i was beginning to plan Kids Camp. When someone suggested the idea of using the Transformers theme for kids camp it really appealed to me. Transformation is one of the major themes in the bible, salvation obviously the major theme, but transformation is related to that.
Little did i realise that the new Transformers movie was targeted at us nostalgic 20 somethings who grew up watching Transformers on Saturday mornings and not at the kids who now watch cartoons on Saturday mornings.
All of that aside though, Camp was FANTASTIC!!!
The kids all seemed to have a really good time. And a BIG THANKS to the leaders who were a great help to me and the kids also.
Check out the photos from camp, hopefully we will be able to release a dvd from camp once we are able to work out a few technical difficulties.
Romans 12: 2 says: "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Transformation can be a 2 stage process. There is the initial instantaneous transformation that happens when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and then there is the continuing process of transformation that occurs as we walk with Jesus and try to become more Christ like. If i were talking in Christianese (the language those really religious people always seem to be talking in) i would call this redemption and sanctification.
Redemption is the first transformation where we chose to no longer conform to this world but to transform ourselves in to followers of Jesus.
Sanctification is the second transformation where we constantly ask the Holy Spirit to help us change our thinking from that of the way the world thinks, to the way God thinks, often vastly contradicting thought processes.
How are you going in your transformation experience, how transformed are you??
Little did i realise that the new Transformers movie was targeted at us nostalgic 20 somethings who grew up watching Transformers on Saturday mornings and not at the kids who now watch cartoons on Saturday mornings.
All of that aside though, Camp was FANTASTIC!!!
The kids all seemed to have a really good time. And a BIG THANKS to the leaders who were a great help to me and the kids also.
Check out the photos from camp, hopefully we will be able to release a dvd from camp once we are able to work out a few technical difficulties.
Romans 12: 2 says: "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Transformation can be a 2 stage process. There is the initial instantaneous transformation that happens when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and then there is the continuing process of transformation that occurs as we walk with Jesus and try to become more Christ like. If i were talking in Christianese (the language those really religious people always seem to be talking in) i would call this redemption and sanctification.
Redemption is the first transformation where we chose to no longer conform to this world but to transform ourselves in to followers of Jesus.
Sanctification is the second transformation where we constantly ask the Holy Spirit to help us change our thinking from that of the way the world thinks, to the way God thinks, often vastly contradicting thought processes.
How are you going in your transformation experience, how transformed are you??
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