Monthly Archives: June 2012

June 28, 2012 · 12:36 pm

There is no “I” in Man!

We have all heard the saying that “there is no “I” in Team”. I think it has been used in alot of different ways and instances, but let me carry the same meaning to maybe  a new way of looking at the Bible.

First let us get our bearings on a key truth.In the beginning is where all the answers are to this truth.We need to go to Genesis 1:26-Then God said,”Let us make man in our image,in our likeness,…..”

We sometimes read books and other periodicals and we just seem to skim over the words and think that we get the meaning of them. I think we do the same with the bible.

Let’s look at the first two words of this passage,” Let us”. I know, and you know that “us” is more than 1 person or identity. Now,we need to really know on how many more than 1 we are talking about to really know the truth here. So let us go back to where it tells who was at the beginning.

We can use John 1:1-5. This passage tells us that in the beginning was the word,and the word was God ,and the word was with God.  Now, we need to see this in our spiritual eyes, not in our natural eyes. God was there in the beginning but in him was more than just God, but a Son(Jesus) who in Him had (life/Holy Spirit). This is why God says ” Let us” when He created his creation.

To illustrate  this concept let us use us as an example, thru all of us we have someone else in us thru appropriation, we have kids and grand-kids.  This is an example of who we are thru the generations of time. This is the example that God has given us to understand who  He is. We just need to “see Him”.

Now let us take the next two words, “make man”. Now if we can understand here that God could of said anything here. He could of said, make steve,fred,sally,kathy,or any specific name of man but He chose to use almost a generic name here to begin with. It was a starting point. He also knows that this is not going to stay one person, but many. So let us now realize that man is a corporate man, a ambassador of all subsequent mankind. This will be renamed latter in the bible to make it more personal to God, this also brings out another huge insight of God.

All throughout the bible God uses certain people of the jewish community and outside the jews realm that are instrumental in His work. But to make a point to us I believe He changes their names. The humanly names given to us are just that human. We for the most part do not give much thought to our names given to us, other than what our parents were influenced at the time. God, I believe uses names of “His world,Kingdom” to give meaning to Him. This is so very personal to Him.

But God changes that by giving us a name to have a special meaning to Him. Such examples are Abram,Sari,Saul,Simon, and many others. He later changes “Man” to “His People,Body,Church,and Bride” to show one that they are His, and that also who they are. Ultimately the one that  He is trying to express  is “His Bride” but that is another blog, so back to the subject.

The next three words are instrumental in our understanding of who we are. “in our Image”.

To illuminate this picture let me me tell you about the picture. Let me tell you about my wife. She is all about pictures, taking them, printing them,collecting them, and looking at them. You see, she is visual person who collects photos of you(I know,kinda scary,especially of her family) to not have a just a snapshot of time but it is a ongoing slideshow of someone to really know of who you really are. You can really tell alot about someone by the many “pictures” of their life.This can also be said about God.

God is so full of pictures, but it seems that we just don’t “see” the picture. God shows us many in the bible, but we fail to see all that He is trying to show us.But the one that He is trying to show us here is of the utmost importance.

His image, is who He is first, and secondly what He is.

Who He is, Father,Son,and the Holy Spirit(Life) is the simpleness of this image.

What He is, is even more simple, He is Life.

 We, as an corporate creation or being, is to be mingled with Him, as an act of marriage,groom and bride, in the most “televised and talked about marriage in all the world” God and man as one!

Let us reconsider now how we view the story of the bible and read it as a corporate,bride, angle to understand what God is trying to show us in His words.

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June 13, 2012 · 2:06 pm

God’s Garden

Gardening can be fun and exciting with either gorgeous flowers or abundance of fruits and vegetables. But it all depends on how consistent or diligent you are with your garden.

The vegetable garden has been my forte  of the last few years, trying to grow as much vegetables as I can to fill our stomachs with over the summer. I have good years with it and I have had some terrible years with it.With the bad years,it seems that I was doomed before I got started, either I started to late to plant or my plants were to small and weak to take the thunderstorms in april or may that I was doomed for any good crops that year. Some years I didn’t have the time to really put into it like I should of to see any good results. Weeds are your enemy, not enough water, to much sun,bugs, all can change things real fast for a vegetable gardener

On the other hand, if my time was devoted to my garden with the love and affection of what it actually represents, food, I would put more of myself into my care for the garden. I would nourish it with fertilizer,sunshine or no sunshine depending on the crop,protection from different elements, rain or hail. The most important element of all these things is the daily watering of the crops. It seems that there could be a better method of my watering these plants than to come along and pour some water on each one of these, or maybe just spray all these plants with a long garden hose, or maybe yet what about using a sprinkler for it every day.

But wait. There is another way. Do you know what it is? It may be obvious but we don’t use it.

God’s garden in the Garden of Eden, used the daily continuous injecting method of an underground feeding of that ever flowing river of Life!.

Just imagine the picture of this in your mind,It was the Garden of Eden, there was two trees there that were there for your choice. One tree, although it might of looked good at first with the fruit that was good to the sight and taste, had no sustaining power in it’s longevity, you see once the fruit was eaten, there was no more fruit. This tree of the “knowledge of good and evil” was not ever meant to be a sustaining tree.

The “Tree of Life” on the other hand was  meant to last forever and ever, or to put it another way——-Eternal Life!

This tree as described was feed by a river that separated into four rivers in Genesis 2:10. This lone river was solely for this tree of life in the garden of eden. This tree was being nourished by the this sole river it was designed to create life and sustain it. It had a purpose.

The designer of the world and the earth did not create just for sake of creating, He had a plan or a goal. Since God was the designer of this garden, he was the stars,planets,heavens,sun,moon,animals,plants,trees,and the waters. 

God was the river.

Let this sink in for a few minutes, this such an amazing picture to behold if we can see it! It is to bad that Adam did not see it as an understanding of which tree to pick. 

The one with no sustaining power or the tree that had forever and ever life more abundant, or eternal life.

This is called eternal life. Jesus Christ, the one that gives eternal life.

Let me add this to the this thought of the sustaining river of God, Look up Revelations 21:1-3 and see what it says about the New City of Jerusalem that God created for us to be with him. 

It might just make you think again about this gardener and irrigation system!

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June 11, 2012 · 2:22 pm

Not of this world

There is tshirt company that is called ‘Not of this World “and is  sold in alot of christian bookstores also known in short as NOTW. I have this as one of my stickers on my car, it is a good conversation starter if someone asks me. 

I have really been amazed the last few years in watching and listening to christianity and to their leaders that their dialogue to the christians  are preaching the wrong message. We need to re-evaluate of understanding of what Jesus Christ(My use of particular uses of God’s names are significant in that I will use Jesus as when He was on earth for the 33 plus years and Jesus Christ after His Resurrection title, but all could be substituted at anytime as God or the Holy Spirit.) was trying to show us to see. 

He was not trying to write a book by the way he lived in his earthly living to be produced later,the bible. It was a story about people that had seen God. Many of the old testament leaders “seen” Christ and then was being led by Him in His being. One such instance was of Moses, He actually didn’t physically see Him but He did feel His presence and being. The one person that I believe that actually did see Christ was Peter, His mind and spirit knew who Christ was because His spirit was with him and in him.

I think that the movie “Avatar” brings up this very message in the scene where the main character is in the “other world” and is being lead in the ways of the “other world”by one of their people, she tells him that to really know her is to “see her”.

This topic has come up one other time since I have seen the movie and it was used in the same way, we need to really know God to really “see Him”. This is has really affected the way that I walk in my daily life.

The  underlining current of this message is that we taking instructions from so many areas of our life that is giving us “how to’s” do this life when in fact,Christ is wanting us to live in “His world”(kingdom),now! We cannot be listening to the usual sermons or conferences that tell us that they have the 12 step program to christianity and all they have to do is the steps accordingly and then share it with 10 other people. No,no,no. Do we realize that this is the same thing that Israel was doing and is still doing to try and “See Him”. He has shown us that to really be a part of this Kingdom,as Israel wanted to be in, That we had to be in Heavenly realm as the Kingdom of God.

This is shown in the passage of 1 Corinthians 3:16,then in 2 Corinthians 6:16 it expands the explanation of it. When Jesus was here on earth and was being beaten and abused by the Romans, His statement to King Herod was  that “yes, He was a King, but not of this World! 

If we are to be living in this kingdom, the Kingdom of God, we must be in Christ,to be apart of it. We must not kid ourselves into thinking that the things that we do in this physical world is the way to go, but to embrace Christ and to live thru Him,and with Him as our “not of this World” experience.
 

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