Musings with PWC

Okay, I'm willing to admit it. My wife and I were talking just last night about this very thing. I'm nervous. I'm apprehensive. I'm uncomfortable. Here, let me explain 1. I just read this morning John 7:47-49 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” The Pharisees had sent officers to arrest Jesus. They didn't arrest him--Jesus arrested them--with his words. Verse 46.... no one ever spoke like that! 2. Notice the criterion for measuring truth or orthodoxy according to the Pharisees. "Have any rulers of the Pharisees believed in Him." Implying a) Nope-- no ruler has. Therefore Jesus must be a fraud. b) IF any had believed in this fraud Jesus, they needed to re-examine the facts. "Crowds" know nothing---Pharisees know everything 3. These are the religious rulers. These are the guys that paid...

J B Philips translation of John 7:6-7 (Jesus' brothers are mocking Jesus--telling Him to get up to the Feast In Jerusalem to show off). Jesus says: "It is not yet the right time for me, but any time is right for you. You see, it is impossible for you to arouse the world's hatred, but I provoke hatred because I show the world how evil its deeds really are." My question--who is "the world" in this passage? Walter Bauer says world (kosmos) is "the world, and everything that belongs to it, appears as that which is hostile to God, i. e. lost in sin, wholly at odds w. anything divine, ruined and depraved." Now, I'm nervous. Does ANYONE hate me? Does ANYONE hate what I stand for? Does ANYONE hate what I preach? Am I doing an adequate--or any kind of job at all-- of preaching the true Christ and the Gospel--if NOBODY hates me? Now, let's expand that to the church in Western cultures. Does anyone hate us? Maybe we are not really pr...

Check this out first: http://www.charismanews.com/us/38737-controversial-teacher-rob-bell-endorses-same-sex-marriage We must remember that the message that we live, preach and want to share is not the point. Jesus is the point. Because Jesus is the point, the gospels show us a number of alarming things: 1. They show us that religious people generally don't like Jesus. 2. They show us that Jesus preaches a no compromise kind of message. He does not preach grey-- it's pretty black or white. 3. They show us that Jesus is okay giving bits and pieces and leaving people hanging. He's okay with the fact that 'duh--they don't get it.' He doesn't keep on explaining. He tells His story and then walks away. He is okay with process 4. They also show us Jesus is okay with 'I don't want you' or 'Your message is too hard' or 'You're nuts!' That doesn't seem to bother Jesus in the least. 5. Most sinners appare...

Roger Sapp: As Christ acted upon what He had previously seen the Father doing, He received more specifics from the Father on these matters for specific people 1. We will receive more revelation through our obedience 2. He who has ears to hear let him hear... that is the challenge set before us today 3. Mark 4:24-25 Then He said to them, “ Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” 4. EVEN what we have we could lose through our disobedience! 5. Matthew 25:26-30 “ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to ...