Thanksgiving

After a brief hiatus and a marching band season, Gravity is meeting again. And to kick off a new season of Gravity there was a rousing game of Quelf that was played. Quelf is a very silly and often humiliating board-game. But if you want to have some fun try to find the game and play and you wont be disappointed.

Besides that there was some Bible studying that was going on.

1 Thessalonians 4:18

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

The part of the verse that we looked at was giving thanks in all circumstances. Is it even possible to give thanks in ALL circumstances? If you think about all of the things that you might go through in a year you'll find that there were good times and bad times. Sure it's easy to say, "Thank You Lord" when things are going well but when times are tough. Well often times we find something to replace our bad feelings to good ones. Even if those somethings fall short.

It certainly is a challenge to be thankful all the time. But God certainly wants us to because he gives us a reason to be thankful. That reason is Jesus Christ. What?

God sent his Son (Jesus) to die for our sins. And the Bible clearly states that when you have Jesus you'll never be alone. Even our lifes are filled with lots of things, if we have Jesus all those things just kind of don't matter. Take a look at Job in the Old Testament and see what he thought about life and things.

Abram Part 4.

Yeah it has been awhile since the last post but with the change of seasons come changes in schedules but alas we all come back down to earth eventually. After reviewing the story of Abram so far we come to an interesting point in Abram's life. One that deals with another covenant between God and Abram, but this covenant does not sit well with some guys. 

That covenant being the one of circumcision. Why circumcision? Well, I don't know. Sure God could have done anything to set up another covenant with Abram but this is the one he chose. With a little examination of what God was doing we can see a continuing pattern throughout the bible. 

God's promise to Abram was one that said that Abram would have a family and heritage larger than the stars in the sky and just too numerous to count. This promise was recommitted with the covenant of circumcision. Not only was this promise made but Abram got a name change, Abraham, even his wife Sarai, her name was changed to Sarah. But of course what stands out is this physical act that Abram is not only to perform on himself but also the members of his family and servitude are to do. What does this symbolize?

Well Abraham did make mistakes. (Check out previous blogs) But God did not give up on him. In fact the promises that he first made with the whole passing through the animals cut in half thing was still in effect. The circumcision covenant not only continued that but expanded upon it. Sure God could have said, "Abram, you screwed up and I'm going to find someone else to make a great generation out of, anyway your really old as it is." (Abraham was in his nineties at the time of the circumcision covenant) That didn't happen and Abraham followed what God wanted him to do.

Circumcision was not just some kind of odd request. Throughout the Bible God establishes individuals and groups of people to set themselves apart from the world around them. For Abraham and the males of his family this was how it was supposed to be. If you go forward in the Bible to Moses and the great exodus you will come to a part in the story where God gives out laws to the people. Many of those laws are there so that other nations will know the Isrealite nation. Basically the laws set them apart from other nations. If you take a look at Daniel and Esther later on in the Bible you will see people who have set themselves apart from the surroundings that they are in. And God takes care of them. Go even further to Jesus and you find radical teachings that are all about setting ones self apart from world. Look at Paul and the early church. Once again people who set themselves apart. 

What does this all mean? Let me ask this question, how do we set ourselves apart from the ways of the world that we live in? More often than not we don't set ourselves apart. We try to fit in because fitting in is less confrontational. Isn't life supposed to be easy? I don't what book your reading when you take a look at the Bible but I don't see an easy life. I see challenges that are rewarded in eternal ways. You might have some "what ifs?" in your mind. And I'm pretty sure those "what ifs?" will be addressed in the future. 

Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music

The most recent Gravity group meeting consisted of taking a respite from looking at the life of Abram and instead watching a movie. That movie being Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music. The film is a documentary focusing on christian music, specifically the rock n' roll genre of christina music. Most of the film's footage was taken at the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois from the year 2000 and there are interviews from musicians, critics and attendee's of the festival spread throughout. 

The title of the film comes from a Larry Norman song. For those not familiar with Larry Norman he was one of the first professing christian musicians to use the rock n' roll as a means of expressing  his faith. Larry recently passed away but the legacy of what he was able to do continues on in the outgrowth of a musical movement. 

What the film allowed us to do at Gravity is discuss the christian music scene and discuss some of the topics and questions that were asked to people in the film. Some of the things discussed were commercialization, authenticity, preaching vs. positivism, hypocrisy and music in general. 

There is allot that can be discussed about the film and I'm sure that many more viewings of the film will come in the future. 

Abram Pt. 3

Genesis 15-16

No matter how many people I have met there is not one person who does not have one complaint about their family. There are things that our family's do that seem to get on our nerves and are like little pins being shoved under our finger nails. But they are our family and even though there may be things that will drive us crazy we ourselves are not immune to causing some havoc. 

Abram's family was not different from our modern day family. Sure there were different customs and all but for the most part the interactions between different members of the family were not perfect. In chapter 15 of Genesis, Abram did not have a family like most people had. He lacked a son to carry on the family name and even though God kept his promises with Abram, the promise of ancestors as numerous as the stars was nowhere to be found. That's why God shows up and goes through the ritual of making an oath, kind of like a handshake but involving cutting animals in half and walking through them. 

Even though Abram has this promise from God he stills finds a way to screw things up. Sarai convinces Abram to sleep with a maidservant named Hagar and you can imagine what that does. (Jealousy, fighting, arguing and pain.) Hagar gives birth to Ishmael but God does not forget Hagar and her son but lets her know that her son will have descendants to numerous to count but Ishmael will be in constant conflict with his brothers. 

Did Abram really think that God's plan involved sleeping with Sarai's maidservant? Was Ishmael supposed to be the one to carry on Abram's name? Did Abram realize that this wasn't the plan when Sarai and Hagar were at each others throats? How was Abram going to fix his family?

We are great at hurting each other. Maybe not intentionally but for some reason we do it anyway. Especially with our family. Just as Sarai and Abram tried to do things their way, we do things our way and we end up making a very big mess. We argue with our brothers and sisters, we fight with our parents, and we put ourselves into relationships that hurt our family. But there is one thing about Hagar and Ishmael that I think is important.

God did not forget about Hagar and Ishmael. Of course their would be consequences to what happened but God was still there for them. Even though we can cause allot of misery within our family or  our family can cause us misery, God is still here. God may want us to do something that we may not want to do, like Hagar going back to Sarai and Abram, but if we trust in him things can get better. 

Abram Pt. 1 and 2

Genesis 12-14 (Not even going to attempt to type the whole thing!)

This post will be an attempt to combine two weeks of meetings together into one thought provoking Gravity Blog piece. And this gives me the opportunity to make each post the current weeks study rather than being a week behind. Without further ado.

Genesis is known for allot of things in the Bible. One of those things is this guy named Abram (a.k.a Abraham, but that's later.) There's allot that we can learn from this guy who lived oh so many years ago. And lets face it, sometimes the story's of Genesis out weigh the practical applications. (Think about Noah and Flood, great story but what does that do for me today?) The life of Abram can easily fall victim to the same mentality. There are so many things that happened in his life but how does that relate to me today? So we take a look.

Abram was called by God. Why Abram? I don't know. But his calling was to leave the land he was living in and go to a land practically a world away. Maybe it would be like leaving New Jersey and having to go to Alaska. What is great about Abram's calling is that there does not seem to be a moment of hesitation. He gets his family and stuff together and goes. I can't help but think of the countless times that I have been hesitant to God's calling. You might be thinking, "How do I know what God's calling is?" I don't know the intricacy's but I do know what is in the Bible, especially in the New Testament. When things like love your enemies, help the poor, and share the gospel seem to be things that all are called to do. We get reluctant when we know we need to do the right thing cause the "what ifs'" start going through our heads. Abram certainly had some time to think about the "what ifs'" as he left his home in Ur and traveled to Canaan, he could have turned back but he didn't.

Abram wasn't immune to sin and he did mess up when he was in Eygpt but the promises that God made to Abram were still in effect. As Abram and his nephew Lot went their separate ways, Abram continued to serve God and wait upon his promises.  When Abram rescued Lot from the war between the Kings it seemed that Abram's life couldn't get any better. The King and High Priest of Salem Melchizedek was honoring him and even the King of Sodom wanted to lavish him with gifts. But Abram does something interesting, he rejects the King of Sodom's gifts. Why? Abram does not want to associate himself with the King of Sodom. Wait a second, Abram's receiving a gift for doing something good why not take it?

Melchizedek gives Abram a blessing of words and Abram gives Melchizedek a 10th of all he owns. Is there something wrong with Abram? 

It's a great feeling to be rewarded or given a gift for doing something. But I wonder, should we accept the praises of everybody? Abram didn't take the King of Sodom's gift cause the King of Sodom's character was not something Abram wanted to be associated with. Abram didn't want people to think that he had anything to do with the King of Sodom. I guess now a day's we take whatever anybody is giving us. Who cares where it is coming from just as long as I make out in the end. I suspect that this way of thinking proves our failure as a body of believers and maybe leads people to think of us as hypocrites. Then there's Abram's reaction to Melchizedek. 

By the time Abram rescued Lot, Abram was a rich and well off guy. God's promises and blessings were over flowing in Abram's life. I would think that Melchizedek's words of blessing to Abram would kind of be along the lines of saying thank you. Usually when someone say's thank you to me I just say you're welcome. Abram does something completely different, he gives up a 10th of everything he has. Imagine someone saying thank you to you and you have 100 dollars in your wallet, after they say thank you, you give them 10 dollars. Hmmm...you're welcome seems pretty lame compared to Abram's actions. But this makes me think.

We are told many times that God will bless us for the things we do and there are some who make it there sole purpose to let you know that. What if when God blessed us we didn't just say thanks but we gave back. And not just give but really give. I'm a little at a loss for words here because examples are lacking at this time. In the book of Acts there seems to be a giving out of God's blessings that is earth changing and there doesn't seem to be an attitude of wanting to get something out of God. If you can think of any ways to give back to God leave a comment. 

Wandering through the Bible.

But in your heart set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 3:15

I realize that some weeks of studying the Bible may not be as organized as other weeks. Sometimes there are questions that need to be asked and the answers searched out. Since we are all still new to meeting together and studying the Bible, all of the questions that we have about religion seem to come out at once. 

This can be overwhelming but and frustrating because in no way to I pretend to even think that I know all of the answers. In fact allot of the questions that are asked to me are responded with a question and before you know it what started out as, "Where do dinosaurs fit in the Bible?" somehow leads to "Is it all right to listen to System of a Down?" and then "Would Jesus play Halo?"  

Questions are a part of who we are, and for allot of the questions that are asked there always seems to be something in the Bible. The Bible brings things back into focus and becomes more than just words on a piece of paper but real live book. For a book that has been written some 2000 plus years ago it is very much relevant as it ever was. 

With all of the questions that beg for answers about the details of life there is one important thing to remember. Jesus. 

The New Testament is filled with lots of things about how to live life and what living for Christ is all about. But I find that what Peter writes in his first letter to be absolutely challenging but also absolutely simple. First off, how many of us really set Christ apart as Lord in our hearts? There is so much going on in our lives that those things compete for our hearts space. Whether marching band, relationships, sports, video games, money, friends, television, Facebook, cell phones, etc. Is Christ really our main focus? 

Another thing I ask is do people know that you are a Christian by your actions? Lets face it, everybody judges everybody. We look at someone and our minds start to formulate opinions and we decide whether we will like that person or not. Christians do this all the time but are great at questioning every action that we take. Why do you listen to that crazy band? or Why do you dress that way? Actions do speak louder than words, sometimes. But Peter says be prepared to give an answer to everyone about the hope that you have. Hope? For people to ask you questions about your Hope that have to know that you have Hope. How do you let people know that you have this thing called Hope? 

Then there's a little thing about gentleness and respect. Many people are hostile towards religion and a simple question like "Why do you act that way?" can become a heated argument. Peter goes on further in chapter 3 of his letter to talk about why gentleness and respect but I can't help but think about how important that really is. It is easy to forget gentleness and respect especially in a world that loves the argument and anger. Debate makes for good television and having enemy's seems to be completely accepted in today's world. Yeah, we are going to have enemy's but how many fewer ones could we have if only we showed gentleness and respect? Christ could have easily wiped out everyone that gave him a hard time but he didn't. His love was heavy for those who were against him and doing what was right was far better than what his enemy's wanted. 

Wandering through the Bible opens up a whole lot more questions but leads to discovery and a greater understanding of how awesome God is. 

Everything and this.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

I can do all this though him who gives me strength. (TNIV)

Here we go again with another verse that is one of the all time greats. It's a verse that you'll see plastered on all sorts of things, especially t-shirts and by far is a rallying cry for athletes all over the world. But what is this verse saying?

As you may notice I have put two different translations of this verse in this post because I think it is important to understand its' context. (For those who don't know what context is: the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning. And,  the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs) 

The author of this verse was the apostle Paul. And it's important to know that this verse is at the end of an explanation to the Philippians about certain conditions that Paul had experienced. But it's easy for us to forget the verses before verse 13 of chapter 4 and accept an attitude of invincibility. Then again it is empowering to think that I can do all things through him.

The bible is full of God proving and showing him self to be all powerful. Whenever mankind stepped up and said, "There's no way that will ever happen" is usually when God shows up and shows everyone wrong. Impossible is nothing to God. Unfortunately (and probably fortunately) we are not God. 

Being a small group of friends there commonality's between us all but there are major differences. For example I wondered what subjects in school were our favorites and which ones did we absolutely struggle with. For myself I was not a math student (let alone a good student in most subjects) but I did excel in history and creative classes.  Another thing I wondered is, if we know about Philippians 4:13, do we actually feel the way Paul felt? Do we really think we can do everything though him?

It is great to know that we cannot do all things. In fact Paul himself could not do all things. What Paul could do was be thankful for what God had done and use what God had done to present a path for the future. We all have hopes and dreams and I'm sure that we've all heard that nothing is impossible. But there is also time, and there are good days and bad days. God is the God of them all. I guess it's important to remember that we shouldn't let our plans get in the way of God's and maybe God wants us to face impossible situations so that we can rely on him more.