five3challenge: John 2 (part 1)

In John 2 we immediately find the famous story of Jesus turning water into wine. Following a really interesting exchange between Jesus and his Mother he turns six jars of water into 180 gallons of wine... give or take a few...

Worth noting is that this wine was the best that had been served at the wedding... meaning Jesus knows a thing of two about making good wine... and that He is able to do truly miraculous things beyond our abilities.

Also worth noting is that John presents this as Jesus first miracle... It seems like for John, that this was the beginning of Jesus revealing his true nature to the disciples through miraculous signs such as this one.


It also begs a few questions:

1. When did Jesus know he was God?

2. When did Mary figure it out and what was she hoping Jesus would do?

3. Why does Jesus seem to tell her he is not going to do anything, but then do it anyway?

thoughts?

five3challenge: John 1 (part 3)

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

Jesus asked this question of two young men who were following him around wanting to be one of his disciples. It is a brilliant question really.

Many of us have heard of Jesus and following him around to some degree. I think that question of what we want from him is one we really need to wrestle with. Too much and we run the risk of wanting God to be our personal genie... to little and we have to ask are we really interested in Him at all...

Its like we are all asking Jesus what he wants with us... and he flips it and asks us what we want with him...

Thoughts?

five3challenge: John 1 (part 2)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

This is such an incredible statement. What in the world would it have been like for the God who made everything to humble himself so much that he became a helpless baby who had to be fed and burped and changed when me pooped in his diaper. It is hard to even imagine.... but I tried... here is an extended version of the Birth narrative of Jesus if you are interested.


The baby inside her kicked awakening Mary from her troubled sleep. He would come soon. Joseph slept next to her in a small shelter outside of Bethlehem. They had traveled here because Caesar Augustus had issued a decree mandating a census of the entire Roman world be taken. To facilitate this process, everyone was to return to their hometown to register. Since Joseph was from Bethlehem they had packed up and come here to the ancient city of David, an ancestor of Joseph. The timing could not have been worse, as Mary's pregnancy was now in the final stages and traveling was very uncomfortable for her.
When they arrived from their long journey things had not gotten any better. Due to the census, the small town of Bethlehem was over run with people. Throughout the entire city no one had a guest room for the pregnant couple and they ended up in the stable where they animals were kept. Mary's stirring woke Joseph. He got up and looked at Mary. He had done his best to prepare a place for her to give birth, but this is not what either of them had expected when the angels told them of Mary's pregnancy. What a strange place for the birthplace of God's Messiah.
The stars shone overhead and the moon was now high in the night sky. In the fullness of time God sent his son , and Mary gave birth to her firstborn with Joseph's help. In this way Jesus, the light of the world, entered the world born of a woman in a humble stable while the world slept comfortably in their beds. The baby cried. Mary rocked him gently as Joseph borrowed a feeding trough from the animals of the stable to serve as his crib. They tucked him in and Mary spoke soothingly to him until he fell asleep. Their joy at his birth made the discomfort of their surroundings and the pain of childbirth fade greatly.
Mary and Joseph were not the only ones who spent the night under the stars with animals. There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks that night. As they settled in for the night on a grassy hillside, suddenly an angel appeared to them and the Glory of God burst forth, engulfing the entire hillside. The shepherds were terrified (Angels tend to have that effect on people). The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid! I bring you wonderful news! Today in the town of David, Bethlehem, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, THE LORD!!!"
The shepherds looked at each other eyes wide in amazement.
"This will be the sign for you," the angel continued, "you will find the baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger that animals eat from." As the shepherds stood speechless, a great heavenly host appeared praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth!"
The joy of heaven concerning the birth of Jesus overflowed into the world in the praises of the angelic Host. As quickly as they appeared, the angels were gone and the hillside was dark again. It took a few moments for the shepherd's eyes to adjust to the dark night after the angels departed. Once they collected themselves, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go to Bethlehem and see this wonderful child for ourselves!"
So they hurried off traveling quickly into Bethlehem. In the animal stable on the outskirts of the village they found Mary and Joseph, as well as a beautiful newborn baby lying in a manger. Joseph rose in surprise as the shepherds ran into the stable. The shepherds could not contain their excitement, stumbling over their words as they told Mary and Joseph of their encounter the angel.
After spending some time with the family, the shepherds left glorifying and praising God and went forth telling everyone about the wonderful news that the angels had spoken to them, and about the beautiful baby they had found. They now knew that the angel's words were indeed true. Finally, after all of their suffering as a people, God had remembered them and sent their Savior.
Back in the stable, as dawn's light broke across the horizon, Mary reflected on the night and its strange encounters. She treasured these wonderful things in her heart.

five3challenge: John 1

I love John chapter 1. It is one of the passages of scripture that i read the most. I think I love it because of how many awesome things it reveals about Jesus, and because it is so mysterious.

John 1:1 reads:

In the Beginning was the WORD.... and the WORD was with God... and the WORD WAS GOD.

As you read the passage, you start to realize that WORD is john's code word for Jesus. Whenever he says word... he means Jesus...

So...

in the Beginning was Jesus... and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. Jesus was with God in the Beginning. I think this is so cool because it means that Jesus was already there in the beginning. He did not suddenly get created when he was born of Mary, he was already here...

In fact, he is doing a lot before he was ever born:

"Through Jesus all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."

Jesus was actually the one doing all the creating in Genesis chapter 1. Go read it, and just think about how cool it is that Jesus is secretly hidden in the text...

When you get to verse 3 all of a sudden God starts speaking and crazy things start to happen.

See if you can follow this: God uses his voice to speak everything into creation in Genesis 1....

then later Jesus is revealed to be the "word of God"...

maybe God's speaking... and Jesus being the Word are related somehow.

What do you think?

Five3Challenge Week 1

Each week a new book mark will be handed out at Nexus and Vintage. If you are not able to pick one up, I will post it here, so you can download it and print it out for yourself. As you participate in the challenge, check of the chapters for each day that you do it. It is an awesome way to keep yourself on track. Also, it helps sometimes to write things down. You can do this in a journal, or if you use blogger, myspace, facebook, or some other online networking site, you can write what you are learning in a blog or post. I will be writing what I am learning here.

Let me know how it is going for you, or if you have any questions!

Vote for Zach Hunter.

Hey, I have spoken many times about how impressed I am with the teenaged Hero Zach Hunter. He helped raise millions of Dollars to end slavery, and if you think he rocks and his cause is true, then vote for him for CNN youth Hero of the year.

Here is what my friend Mark O . wrote about it:

we at youth specialties just found out that zach hunter has been nominated as a cnn hero in the youth category. the winner is determined merely by vote (which, since zach doesn’t have a big organization behind him like some of the other nominees, is unfortunate). but we’d love to get the votes going!

winning would allow zach to appear on a prime time special with anderson cooper, to talk about modern day slavery, and how he (zach) feels god is calling his generation to bring freedom. there’s a cash price also; and zach has already said he would donate it for aftercare and education of rescued child slaves.

help us get the word out — to your churches and youth group and friends.

vote here (btw, the info is wrong: it says zach has raised $20,000 to end slavery. that’s how much zach has personally given, from speaking fees and book royalties. he has raised well over 10x that amount.)

you can vote as many times as you like until monday at noon.

The Return of the Five3Challenge

Since roots is a series on learning how to grow closer to God, we thought we should dust of the Five3Challenge and do it again during this series.

The Five3Challenge is a simple commitment to spend:
5 minutes talking to God
5 minutes reading God’s word (from John)
5 days a week

We are recommending that you read the Gospel of John, as that is what I am going to read. I will be putting up a new post here almost every day, so please stop by and say hi. I would love to know what you are thinking as you read and pray over the next month!

This blog exists as a place where you can post your thoughts and ideas... questions... answers... dreams... pictures... etc. Let the world know how you are doing with the challenge!!!

SNO RODEO IS COMING SOON!!!

Set one year after the smashing success of Ordinary Heroes I: Calling all Ordinary Heroes, the series returns at Sno Rodeo this winter. Ordinary Heroes II: The Rise Of The Ordinary Hero continues to follow the struggle and success of the many Heroes trying to emerge in their ordinariness. Lacking personal super power sufficient to face the issues in the world at large and at hand, our Heroes turn to faith in He who is the source of all. Their journey will lead them beyond themselves and into the great adventure of faith.

Will they succeed in their journey and be victorious over the many enemies that face them... will they overcome personal demons and vice... will they learn to live the sacrificial lives of Heroes... only future generations will tell...


Need a Registation form?




Sno Rodeo is Mosaic's winter camp. This year's theme is "The Rise of the Ordinary Hero". We will again explore how students don’t have to be “Extra-ordinary” to make a difference in the world, because we serve a “Super” God. When connected to your super God everyone can make the world better for someone almost every day. This is part two of a trilogy, and adds a deeper focus on how a hero can rise up and face the challenges of his day.

Message Follow up from Nexus last night

Last night, I didn't do the greatest job of explaining roots. As I think about it now, I should have had a talk just on what roots is about and then had a "rhythm talk the next week. Oh well...

SO here is a key idea I did not communicate:

A root is anything in my life that renews my passion for God and my strength to follow him.

If I want to become someone who does not rely on someone else to "bottle" feed me in my faith, then I have to develop roots that help me draw strength for myself.

God's love and care for us are infinite... wider, higher, deeper, and longer than we can imagine... but we have to grow a "root system that reaches into God's love and pulls out everything we need to live and grow.

Roots Part 1: Rhythm....

Check out this awesome video! We will be using it for something cool during our roots series.

God has created the universe with certain rhythms built in. Seasons, tides, lunar cycles, life stage, and Sabbath are all examples of such rhythms. These rhythms are important and teach us about the nature of the universe. What is done once, is not nearly as important as what we do repeatedly. Some things only reveal their true beauty when observed over a period of time...