JackNathan

Theology is pretty sweet.  A deep and rich theology is necessary for the Church.  Good theology will alert the pastor to the Wolves that are invading his flock.  Good theology will alert people when their beliefs are not in line with the revelation of our Lord through the Word of God.  Good theology can excite.  Good theology can also detach the head from the heart.

Great theology unites the two.

Great theology is concerned with Orthodoxy as well as Orthopraxy.

Great theology is bathed in love.

 

A member of my Church (named Steve) has a friend from work (named Aamed or Achmed, I’m not certain which) who is an Egyptian with a Muslim background.  I do not know if he was a practicing Muslim or not.  But Steve spoke with his friend at work with love.  He told him of Christianity and its Christ.  Aamed (I’ll just stick with that name for now) was intrigued.  He stated he wanted to learn more about Christians; their religion sounded quite foreign to him.  Steve invited him to our church; a good learning opportunity for Aamed.  So Aamed came on Sunday.

After walking in the doors, seeing the people, being greeted, watching as hugs were exchanged,  Aamed noticed something.  The interaction of the people were not forced.  The people were not being respectful out of cultural obligation.  Courtesies were not simply exchanged.  Love permeated every interaction Aamed witnessed.  He leaned over to Steve and said, “I have never witnessed so much love in my life.”

Bill (our senior pastor) preached on God the Father.  He preached God the Father as Abba, Daddy.  He preached on the intimate relationship our Daddy has with us, despite what our jaded culture says, despite what our broken relationships with our fathers tell us.  This is the message that Bill’s Daddy in Heaven is teaching him now. 

Tears were poured out by the congregation.  God was illuminating to us the truth of his love for us.  Our good theology fell short.  Our hearts became connected to our heads, and we now have Great theology.

Aamed heard of a God radically different than Allah.  He heard of Yahweh.

Aamed was hearing Bill during the sermon, and the music prior to that.  But Aamed heard another voice throughout the service.

Aamed was in conversation with the Holy Spirit.

After the service, Aamed came up to be prayed over, by Christians.

 

 

And that’s just one of the things that God is doing in His people right now.  Yahweh is calling His beloved children to Himself.  In fact, He is running to meet them (Luke 15:20).

Summer is boring. 

• I love the rain, and this drought just isn’t giving us much.  Also, the magnolia tree that we’ve transplanted into our yard is struggling.
• I’m only taking one class this summer.  It meets one Saturday each month this summer.  It gives me a lot of time to procrastinate in between sessions.
• I’m only allowed to work 20 hours a week as a Graduate Assistant.  I wish I could work more.  I have a lot of work to do and it makes it feel like I’m taking many different classes since I am editing class films.
• I’m realizing how much of an emotional eater I am.  I eat when I get bored.  Specifically, I eat sweets.  The pan of brownies we made on Monday hardly made it to Wednesday.  I forced myself to stop eating so Sarah could have some.  I need to lose weight.
• I still don’t have a computer.  I have to wait till I go to work to check email.  I can blog and surf the Internet while I have a video capturing on the other computer.
• I’m not going to Honduras this summer.  That’s difficult for me.  I keep my car windows down in the heat and I smell every diesel that goes by, pretending for a moment that I am descending on a winding mountain road, progressing toward Playa Grande on the Pacific Coast.

On the other hand, I enjoy summer.

• I have plenty of time to play with my dog.
• I grilled out on Tuesday.  We invited Jacob (Sarah’s eldest brother) over for it.  I grilled burgers and hot dogs.  I also sauteed mushrooms for the burgers.  Sarah heated up some baked beans and made chili for the dogs.  It was very relaxing.
• I’m eager to get some patio furniture so I can sit outside.
• Our landlord has a garden next to our yard.  They gave us an enormous zucchini.  I think I’ll try to grill it soon.
• I have plenty of time to read (It’ll be even better when I get some patio furniture).

And on another note.

• I’ve given two homeless people rides this month.
• I’m not saying this to blow my own horn by any means.  I hope to encourage you to not be afraid.
• We hear horror stories that keep us from picking up those in need.  But that is really just our selfishness.
• Before I picked up the individual on each occasion, I quickly asked my Father in Heaven, who knows all things, whether to take the person and whether I would be safe.
• Each time I was told (not audibly, but the message was definitely given to me) that it would be fine.  Also, what does it matter if they tried to steal from me or something like that.  All that I have was given to me by God, so I cannot fear losing things.  That fear only prohibits me from being used by God to help those in need whom I do not know.
• The first time I was kind of afraid.  I actually think the woman might have been a prostitute.  I was pondering that all day afterwards.
• The second time I was confident in the Lord’s purposes.  I spoke to the man about church (he even brought it up).  He said he didn’t think tithing is scriptural so he stopped going to each church that he had tried.  I told him my thoughts on it and he seemed to agree (at least in order to be polite).  Then I invited him to my church since he seemed to have transportation to get there (he recently stopped going to Newspring just down the road from us).  I wrote down my name, my church’s name, its address and phone number.  I don’t know if he will ever come.  But I invited him, and told him of God’s grace.  I was happy the rest of the day.
• Again, I say this not to speak of anything good which I myself have done.  These are two instances which I heeded the call of God to love; the first of which I was scared and didn’t really say anything.  There are countless instances in which I ignored that call.  But God is graceful to me.  He longs to use His beloved in order to reach that which is lost.

The wife and I finished reading through John’s gospel recently.  I thought it would be good to proceed to John’s epistles, but Sarah stated that she really desired to read through the book of Revelation.  I sighed and agreed, knowing that there was precious little I would be able to contribute to the confusion we may get ourselves in by reading the apocolypse of John.

Well, I couldn’t be more wrong. 

• Each time Sarah stopped us and said, “Well what do you suppose that means?”  I shrugged my shoulders and said, “It appears to be metaphorical to me.  My professor termed it a verbal painting.  It communicates emotion more than exact predictions.  Let’s keep reading.”
• She would nod her head and we would continue.
• Then, light bulbs were going off in our heads.
• Once we stopped trying to figure out what it meant and simply respond to what was said, we tasted the goodness and faithfulness of God.
• In the midst of the opening of the Seven Seals, there is a break in the flow of thought.
• The people of God are seen worshipping Him.  And there is not one missing.  All have been preserved, none have been destroyed.
• Then the Seventh Seal was opened.

In the midst of the woes, there is a blessing for God’s people.  Sarah and I looked at each other, with tears in her eyes and a smile on my face (both indicative of our joy), and we recounted that the woes are not for the children of God, but for the ungodly, for those who do not love.  We rejoiced in God’s promise that we will not be destroyed, we have not been forsaken, and no amount of persecution the Church has ever or will ever face could remove one member of Israel from the presence of God when this time has passed.

To YHWH be the Glory!