Happy Turkey Day!!!

Hey everyone, Happy turkey day! I hope you eat lots of fat turkey and stuffing and have a good time with your family.

Just thought I would share with you my personal connection with turkeys.

I grew up in Tremont, a small town in Illinois. Tremont had an annual festival called the turkey Festival where we set world records for how many turkey sandwiches people ate.

Now, because turkeys we so big in tremont, our school made out maskot a turkey.... We were the Tremont Turks.

You can imagine how much teams loved to play us...

"Roast the Turks"

"Gobble up the turks"


And it only got worse.

So... go ahead and eat your bird but just don't make fun of the Tremont Turks!

five3challenge: John 8:31 - 59

"Jesus just is..."

This is one of my favorite sections in John.

Let me point out just a few of really cool things he says:

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."

This passage is pretty straight forward. It is those who really try to do what Jesus tells us to that are his students, or disciples. When we follow his teaching, we live the best kind of life and experience a freedom that many never do. What kind of freedom?

Truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

Often people think that Jesus is trying to keep them from all the fun things in life... but the truth is that all those "fun" sinful things that go against his word are traps. They promise fun, and sometimes they even deliver, but as soon as you start, the also come with chains. The chains are the consequences which may not come immediately but will come eventually. And many of these behaviors also can be addictive... enslaving us to our desires!

truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!"

THis statement is given when Jesus is trying explain to some skeptics who he is... He has always existed... he just is...

five3challenge: John 7:53 -8:11

The Bible is a complicated book.

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic. The New testament was written in Greek. The whole bible was translated into Latin at some point.

The Bible is also a collection of shorter stories. Each story has its own history and ended up in the Bible in different ways. I think that history has proven the 66 books that we currently have to be the most reliable.

That said, from time to time there would be minor differences in two different scrolls containing the same book.

John 7:53 - 8:11 is one of the biggest and most famous examples of this. It simple is not in many of the ancient copies of John.

What does this mean? Well, it is interesting that almost all modern versions of the Bible set the passage apart somehow. The NIV uses lines to mark it off from the rest of the text.

I think that many people feel that this account of the adulterous woman is a true account. Even though many scholars believe it is true, many feel like maybe it was added to John later than some of the other material.

Really we cannot be sure, which is why it is left in the Bible even though we are uncertain about its origin.

What is really neat about the Holy Spirit is that he is the one who guides us to all truth. And he has used this passage and many others in the Bible to speak to people throughout history.

When we read the Word and let it really fill our hearts and minds, it changes us.

What questions do you have about the Bible?

five3challenge: John 8:1-30

"Jesus was really shiny!"

Jesus being the Light of the World is a important theme in the Book of John.

It first shows up in John 1

4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.

In John 8:12 he says this,

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Jesus illuminates the right path for all to see, but only those who believe in him actually see it. When we follow him, he lights up our way so that we can live the best kind of life. He also gives us wisdom when our lives are confusing, and brings us light and hope in the darkest moments of life.

His light also shines in the dark places of our life and points our where we still have sin and doubt. When the light hits our shameful areas, we have the opportunity to embrace it, and confess our sins, or to turn away from the light and try to hide our sins.

But... whoever follows Jesus must walk in the light... even when the light reveals how sinful we are, God's grace is enough to help us to change and come back to the right path.

five3challenge: John 7:25 - 52

"Jesus is a rocking energy drink!"

One day while attending a festival Jesus makes a surprising statement...

"On the last and greatest day of the Festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

This passage has always intrigued me. The living water is talking about the Holy Spirit. This means that Jesus is better than Monster Energy drinks. Energy drinks give you lots of energy, but eventually they run out... But Jesus is better because once you drink of him, the energy never stops flowing.

How to comment on the posts...

Some people have been having trouble figuring out how to comment on the blog... so I wanted to make a little tutorial.









Step one: Click the on the word "comments"










Step two: Select the option "Other"

~Then type either your first name... or a nickname (PS you can ignore the web page line)














Step Three: ~Write your comment in the box
















Step Four: Push "Publish Post" and watch the magic happen

five3challenge: John 7:1-24

People wanted to kill Jesus.

Seriously... he had a way of pushing people to the edge...

Often he had to be cautious about where he traveled because there were so many people trying to kill him. Even Jesus own family were often frustrated with Jesus and sometimes even tried to tell him what to do.

Imagine that...
Jesus had brothers... who thought they could push him around too...
All of these people had their expectations of what the world should look like... of what Jesus should act like... or what church services should be like....

And into all of this infuriatingly unmet expectation... Jesus exhorted everyone saying, "

"Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly."

Feast chart
Tabernacle info

five3challenge: week 2 & 3

Hey because we do not have nexus on the 20th due to turkey day, this weeks book mark has reading for two weeks. Check it out.

New Pics of Service Project last weekend.

Check out the new photo's

five3challenge: John 6 (part 2)

Jesus even disappointed his closest friends.

After the crowds desert him in John 6, Jesus turns to his disciples and asks them some hard questions.

They respond,

"This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

So then Jesus asks the Twelve,

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" ... Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

There is some disappointment in Peter's reply. He could have said, "no way you are the best, we love you"... but instead he sorta says, "hey... we really don't have a choice... we are sorta stuck with you"

And so are we. Jesus is the incredible creator God of the universe, but he does not bend his identity and plan to us. Sometimes things we really want are not part of his plan. Sometimes he is not "exciting" to us. (this is more a reflection of us than it is of him... we desire and love things like iPod's but not the God who died for us... sorta wierd)

But he is the amazing Son of God who has the words of life.

We have no where else to go.