Fulfillment

Hebrews 10

"By His will we have been sanctified once for all through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ. Day after day every priest stands and repeatedly offers the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, 'he sat down at the right hand of God.'"
Jesus' last words, "It is finished," have you ever taken the time to ask yourself, "What is finished?" This semester, I am taking a couple of classes that focus mainly on Christ as High Priest. I must say, I am beginning to see a creative side of God that I never knew existed. The Old Covenant was based on the sacrificial system, where people would take some type of animal to a priest, and sacrifice it, for the remission of their transgressions. Different types of offerings or sacrifices gave forgiveness for different things. The priests were basically butchers who loved the Lord. These sacrifices weren't a pretty sight. There was a very complex method that God gave his people for them to have forgiveness of sin. These priests were continually going, non-stop sacrifice. Covered in the blood of goats, bulls, rams, sheep, doves, and the list goes on and on.  If you've ever heard the fact that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament, I would challenge you to dig deeper, and find out every way that He has fulfilled it. For God to give one perfect sacrifice, and for all of those who put themselves under this one sacrifice to be totally covered is amazing. God, whose character was put on display through the life of Christ, showed how selfless He is by giving His one and only begotten Son to die.  In the Tabernacle there was a piece of furniture called "The Bronze Laver." Now it was there for the priests to wash themselves for sacrifice, and this made them clean. Now jump forward to Jesus first miracle where He turned the water into wine. Now, Jesus and His disciples were at a Wedding Reception, and these jars of water were there for the people to wash, and make themselves clean to eat. The law was very strict in what the people who followed had to do to remain clean, but for eating it was imperative for them to be clean in a setting like this. So now for us what is the one thing that can wash us and make us clean from sin. The Blood of Christ. And the Blood of Christ, being one of the elements for Communion, has been represented by wine. So Jesus took the water, which was significant for washing the people to make them clean, and turned into the representation of the one thing that can truly wash us and make us clean forever. So no longer do we need these priests to make sacrifice on behalf of us for the cleansing of sin. We have been given such a grace that can cover us for all of eternity and our needs are met, and beyond than that of just salvation. God, through His Son, has fulfilled the old with the new. Therefore, "It is finished."

Sovereign God

I cannot believe that God wants me. I am at a place in my life where I am learning stuff about myself that kinda makes me sick. How I have functioned through life, even after coming to the Lord. I just want to say sorry to anyone who reads this and is one of the many people that I have probably hurt over the years. I have been changing the way I have been having my time with God. It's no longer just about reading as the important part. I find that praying and journaling are just as important. Listening to the voice of God, and writing it down. Man, God is so good, even at a place in  life where frustration can set in, and you feel like it's never going to stop. I am becoming a man. I am 20, about to turn 21, and I am so glad that I am getting this crap out now, and not when I have three kids and a wife. It's really funny when you read a verse from the Bible, and you kinda get it, but when you live it out, and see the principle of it in your own life, man, it's another journey. 

God,

I am grateful that your word is relevant to me now in my life. 

What it's all about...

Well..
I keep finding that people who pursue God with a heart of complete surrender, find Him. I also find that people who are disciplined by God, come out on the other side of it saying, "God I will do anything, anywhere, just lead me and I guide me. I don't care what I get out of it." Hmm...
I mean. What is it all about? Ask yourself that. What am I in this for. Am I trying to get recognized, noticed, or affirmed? It's time to grow up. It's hard living in a culture that say's, "Get what you can at all cost. It's all about you." What does it even mean to live a counter culture life. I mean we have heard to meaning of it, but if we don't allow it to sink in, what is the purpose of even trying? We have to realize that God's plan for our lives, is so much better than the best that we can try and orchestrate.
Another question. Are we willing to let God move in our lives, even when it puts us in a place where we aren't comfortable. I'm not just talking in the physical. A place where you are being attacked on a consistent basis. Where you feel like you are being pulled down by the plans of the enemy, but the grace, strength, and power of God is what is making you stand. You ever been there? Well let's get there, and stay there.
Pastor Dale was talking about "Kingdom Character" a couple weeks ago. His first point was "Total Dependence." Let's break it down.

total |ˈtōtl|
adjective
1 [ attrib. ] comprising the whole number or amount.

dependence |diˈpendəns|
noun
the state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else.

God, help me and teach me to be totally dependent upon you...

..In Over My Head..

and I wouldn't have it any other way. Even though it hurts really bad.

I am going through it right now. God is working in my and stretching me like never before. I honestly want to take some Hybernole(SNL) and wake up in the spring and have all of this over and done with. My social life is shot, and I have two days a week to see my friends. If I didn't have the grace of God with me, I couldn't do this. I miss everything. The Church, my friend, co-workers, the food, and even cleaning. Gosh...

I feel like I am ready, but now God is really starting to show the core of who I am and it's crazy to see it. Being around being gives me energy. I never knew that. Relationships are the greatest thing to me...and I am having to learn how to redo them. I feel like the one person I want to talk to hates me and the people I need to talk to are more than faithful. People. It's crazy how God made us to need relationships, friendships, and deep friendships at that. I am learning through experience of why God isn't all I need. If I was to try and sit in my room all day for the next three weeks and talk to now one but God, I would come an insane man. Guaranteed. Even having people who are consistent. I love them but I don't know what it is about friends my age. I need them.

I feel like I am on an island...

screaming for anyone.. 

but not just anyone will do...

the one thing I want to find comfort in I can't. 

Ouch.

..How in the world..

It wrecks my mind to think of all of the things that God has done. Last night I went to Frontline(College age Ministry at my Church) and Kyle Kellums brought this word with the title of "Why Jesus Came." It amazed me in my mind, as the Lord brought revelation, of how easily we can take the life, death, and resurrection of Christ for granted. That we could look past the "meat" of the meaning and just see a ticket to good life and to heaven. I prayed this morning after looking over the notes that Kyle gave last night and just got an immense feeling that I haven't even "scratched the surface" of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I like writing, and specifically writing music. I guess that is my way of expressing myself. Yesterday I took the StrengthsFinder test and was rather surprised of how accurate an internet evaluation could be. 

Here are my top five, for those of you have either taken it or hear of it:

1. Belief

2. Communication

3. Woo

4. Responsibility

5. Arranger

Now the reason I bring all of this up is because of Communication. I love telling stories, describing things to people, and breaking things down in a more contemporary language for those who might not get it. Seriously. I love it. and I think I am pretty good at it, if I can say that myself. But I feel that God has gifted me in this way to write music, and to write music about what God does, what He can do, what He offers to those who are faithful to Him. But I want to break it down. To a simpler terminology. 

Here is the definition of Woo. 

"Woo stands for winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. On the contrary, strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport. Some people shy away from starting up conversations because they worry about running out of things to say. You don't. Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating with strangers because you drive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection. Once that connection is made, you are quite happy to wrap it up and move on. There are new people to meet, new rooms to work, new crowds to mingle in. IN you world there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet - lots of them."

I am not going to go into how much this one fits me, but I want to share this.

We are not flukes. God didn't make us by chance, luck, or by wit. He wasn't and isn't joking. 

"Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

(Jeremiah 1:5)

He has shaped us into His image, but here is the thing that I have been learning. We must be shaped into the likeness of Christ. We are made to know God. But in our own sinful and fleshly attitudes, that is near impossible. That is why Christ came to set us free from the bondage of sin and death. Last night Kyle said, "There are two things that you cannot overcome. Sin and Death. If you don't believe me, try this. Don't sin and don't die." After he said this, I laughed. I often laugh as a way of response to something that is so right that there is not other way around it. But Christ has come to set us free from sin and death. Hallelujah...

license

I'm finally getting back to life. 

For those of you who don't know, I had my license taken away on Valentine's day. But back in December, I got pulled over for going fourteen over in a neighborhood. As I was waiting for the officer to run my license, I was thinking of the ticket I got before I went to Mexico. As I see him get out of his car, I remembered that I never paid off that ticket. As he began to walk towards my car, I noticed that he had on some nice shiny black gloves, and in that moment I knew I was screwed. That was an "awesome" day. It took like 5 hours to get my license back, which was cool and all, but I had a stinkin' court date. So a few months go by, and I'm sitting in the court...waiting. Finally, this old man comes out, sporting a nice turtle-neck and sports jacket. Eventually, He calls for the people who had some type of moving violation(which was me), and then he says, "Now, if I can get all of the folks who are over 20 to come up first." And all that I can think in my mind was, "Oh c'mon you old sack of...nevermind." 

About 15 minuets later, he calls up all of the "young folk" and asks us to line up in front of his desk. He then takes the chance to tell us that we should be ashamed of ourselves, and that we are all a bunch of liars. About five minuets later, after he wrapped up his "awesome" speech, he gave us this option. If it was our first offense, then we could either take the charges, let it go on our records and jack up our insurance, or let it slide and give him  your license for three weeks(depending on how fast you were going) and take defensive drivers school. So, I weighed out my options, thought about it for a mili-second, and said, "Duh, you old....I will take option two, Sir" 

All of that to say, that I will be getting my license back, and can be able to drive myself around like a normal person.

thanks for reading..