Jesus

     I think people today are missing the big picture of the bible. It is Jesus. The Bible is all about Jesus. This might be as simple or fundamental as something could ever be but it is so important. So I look to the book of Colossians. 

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by[f] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

    Paul means that Jesus is the first of us all. Before creation was made he was. If we believe in a God that was before creation why don’t we put him first before us? Our lives were placed under his supremacy. Then WHY do we stress over the trivial things in life? When he has taken care of those trivial things. 

     We have a problem in the Church today. We forget Jesus. He is the cornerstone of the Church. He is in all of scripture. We miss him most often when reading the Old Testament. Shoot we forget him when we teach the New Testament. But, he is all over the book. He is so forgotten. 

     I would love for people to put scripture is such high regards in our lives. We put TV shows, sporting events,  concerts over the Christ. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy some good mindless entertainment once in a while but, we have forgotten our first love. Just like the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelations. The reason that our people are not growing is Jesus is not lifted up as priority in our lives. We are looking for four steps to a better prayer life! Let's just do this. Read the scriptures, sit with Jesus in prayer and plead with him. Maybe if we did that we would see change. The only thing you need to experience is Jesus. If when we lay our heads down at night we have not pursued him, at the end of that day Satan has won the battle. Let our view of Jesus be higher than everything in life. Then we will have peace in him. 

The Tower of Babel

If you have been reading all of my posts on the this Genesis series my posting might start to sound like I'm repeating myself. I am. Don't get me wrong idea about what is going on. My goal in all of these postings is to show you how Jesus is consistent throughout the scriptures. I would be doing a disservice to the writing of the scriptures if I was not showing how Jesus is at the heart of the Old Testament. We see that the people are trying to make a tower to God. Genesis 11:4 is the verse that I want to park at for a little bit. ";i[-Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." They are trying to build a tower to reach the heavens. They are trying to work their way to God. This might not be looked at as a big deal. Sometimes we look over verses as if they are just little details in the scriptures. This is not just a little detail. We are reading an essential piece of our faith. We must live out of our faith and not out of our works. They are doing some thing that only God can do through Jesus. This is what we do practically everyday. We try to save ourselves. It is Jesus that saves us. If we go to verse 5 it talks about God going down. Does God come down to us from the heavens? Yes, Jesus came down to us. Jesus came down to unite us. He made us one nation. In Genesis he confused our speech but, on the cross Jesus makes us a nation united by God. The Tower of Babel is just one more illustration of the Gospel. It is shows us how we can not do this by ourselves. It is by the grace of God. I could go longer but I just want you to grab some pieces to think about. I hope that this has been beneficial for you. 

The Bible

I know that I have not been on here in a long time. My new goal is to do a post at least once a month. Life is just really crazy and I would like to use this as a place of discussion about whatever may be going on in my life. It could be about parenting church stuff anything that comes up in my life. Anything that I might think people would like to discuss.

So, with that being said I would like to talk about the Bible. Yes, the Bible. I was listening to a message recently and it was about the Bible and why we have it. It was done well but there was something missing for me. We come to the scriptures and look for what is being said and what is going on. Most of the time we are looking for application. It is the most practical way to read the Bible. But a lot of the time we miss Jesus. Yes, Jesus. He is why the book is here. He is the living word of God. Often times we read a text in the Old Testament and we see David and characters like him and we see stories about people. They are tales of how they made it through a troubling time with the help of God. I think that we are missing Jesus in the story. If the Bible is God's love letter to us why do we not see the "Word" the second part of the trinity Jesus in his word? I think this is missed most commonly in the Old Testament. In Luke after Jesus has been resurrected Jesus tells his disciples how all of the scriptures are about him. The law,and the prophets all of it is about him. Each main character in the Old Testament is a picture of Jesus. Moses leading the people out of the bondage and slavery of the Egyptians is Jesus leading us out of the bondage and slavery of our sins. Jonah is the prophet that was in the belly of a whale for three days. Jesus laid in the belly of the earth but rose from the grave in three days. Job was blameless just as Jesus was but was put through suffering to receive all of the riches back that God had taken from him. Just as Abel's blood cried out to God. It is Jesus blood crying out to us cleaning us for all sin and iniquity. There is so much more to the scriptures than just at first glance. Jesus is prophet priest and king. Each prophet priest or king in the Old Testament are pictures of Jesus. This is just a small glimpse into seeing Christ in the Old Testament. This is just a little piece. I would love to see if this helps anyone while looking they study the scriptures. Please let me know if this helps your study. 

Great Day

It is Easter Sunday. What a great day to be in the house of the Lord. Just joking. Yes, a great day to remember what life is really about. Life is not about me but the one who saved me, Jesus Christ. On this day God's plan was in complete fulfillment when the stone was rolled away and my saviour walked out of the tomb/grave. I am so thankful for all of what had to happen so that I could have access to the God of the Universe. On this day I live my life everyday so that I am most glorifying to God. Let me know what Easter means to you.