Word of Beard

'But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out it's by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; it's leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.' Jeremiah 17:7-8

What is a true disciple? This is.

All of one's life, attitude affected by the truth of Christ. And this spoken by the Father several hundred years before the incarnate Christ. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and His desire for His church is the same as well.

Question: Are you this sort of disciple? Is there any other?

Ravaged & Redeemed: Guys, Games and Porn...

The other night I attempted to lead a discussion with PatrisMC, a young adult community I lead. I say attempted because it may very well have been the most chaotic 'discussion' I've ever experienced...and I've spent years leading elementary and junior high discussion groups.

Now, let me say that I genuinely love this group. I truly believe the Spirit has created and spear-headed this community launch and is working to shape a new generation of disciples. That said, in several folks there is, quite simply, an inability to focus on the word, on others, on one topic...on one fruitfully developed thought for more than 60 seconds at any given moment.

I need movement. I enjoy technology. I track well with many transitions and rabbit trails - things movies and video games provide - and yet there's no replacement for genuine, respectful, honest exegesis and whole-hearted, whole-minded wrestling with the Scriptures in a group setting. Many voices. Many thoughts. Many experiences. One Word.

Jeremiah 17:5-10 was the focus of the discussion. A descriptive contrast between the person who trusts in mans strength, the flesh, the material world and worldly wisdom - and the person who confidently trusts in YHVH through Christ, the Word.

The cursed and The blessed. The ravaged and The redeemed.

I've been pondering that chaotic discussion in light of this passage all day. And in the mean time I stumbled across this article titled The Demise of Guys.

It's rare to meet a young dude (and more and more young ladies) who isn't or hasn't been addicted to some form of fast paced, insatiable, ever expanding, always renewed and yet extravagantly-destructive and life-depressing drug: video games, vulgar movies, social media, porn, ______.

To Jeremiah, God described what a truly free and purpose filled life is founded on and the fruit that comes of it. The Lord also terrifyingly described the cursed man, his foundation and the blindingly-depressed life that is his reward.

I felt this tension in the room the other night. In the midst of that discussion on Gods words to Jeremiah I could feel the spirit of the cursed pressing in on the Spirit of the blessed. I couldn't focus. I became  frustrated and many times quietly asked the Lord to bring focus and freedom to those in the room enslaved by the idea that 'whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it is good and right and healthy.'

That false mindset founded on the quick fix and immediate gratification of self-pleasure and fulfillment has enslaved so many in the coming generation. It hasn't brought freedom, growth and maturity but only a perverted sense of empowerment and an atrophied and, if existent, faith to those who claim to believe in the very Christ who actually is life and who actually teaches against the temporary lusts of man.

The article above only reinforces what Jesus and the Apostles taught. That there is a path that leads to destruction, and as intense as that statement is, our bodies and the perverted abuse we put them through preach this to those who know us best and beyond.

It's quite the focused statement isn't it, to say that trusting in the Jesus of the Scriptures is the way to eternal life, purpose, freedom and fulfillment. And yet it takes so much faith, so much awareness of the correlation between the spiritual, philosophical, scientific life around and within us. It's such a simple truth loaded with all the complexities life offers...

Needless to say. It was a chaotic discussion the other night and yet I get it. There are supernatural forces vying for the hearts and minds and souls of each person during each hour, of each day.

Read Jeremiah 17:5-10 and Read The Demise of Guys. Cursed? Blessed? Ravaged? Redeemed?

Word of Beard

'You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.' 1 Thessalonians 1:6

Paul and his co-authors were speaking directly to the Thessalonians in their context, but we've much to learn from these notes. If you suffer for the Gospel in any way as an imitator of Christ, and you've been convinced of the Truth of the Gospel and you know the model that was Paul's life...then the work of the Spirit in the Thessalonians is also at work in you.

So in this verse we see that the Holy Spirit carried the message along from town to town and generation to generation (2 Peter 1:20-21), stirred within them a perseverant heart allowing them to stand firm in the Truth (James 1:2-3), and transformed them into models of Christ-likeness (Philippians 2:13).

The Spirit also brought about joy, one of the key elements in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). He brought joy to the Thessalonians and He brings it to us through the Word here and now. He is the embodiment of it and is given to all disciples of Christ. No disciple can be a fully functioning imitator of Jesus without also experiencing His supernatural joy.

Joy frees us from the trap of self-esteem, depression, circumstance and suffering...and this only comes from the divine power of the Spirit.

So, be imitators of Christ.

The Thessalonians were transformed by the Gospel and their new lives were models to those who knew of them. How about your life?

Word of Beard

'"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.' John 7:38-39a

Now the streams of living water thing is awesome but it's not the focus of my thought here. I recently connected with a couple of young and passionate Latter Day Saints (Mormons to lay person) and it simply reignited my study of and faith in the Text that has been carried along by the Spirit, the Counselor and reminder of Jesus' teachings, a Truth that has been tested and approved.

Jesus breathed and poured the Spirit on them (John 20/Acts 2), an awesome picture of an intrinsically unified God. And that Spirit of power was received, is here and will continue working in the Church until Christ returns 'and finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God' (Luke 22).

At no point from Christ's ascension to this very day has the Spirit left the Church to our own demise as the Mormons may propose. He has been and is on the job until Christ returns to redeem His Church in the great finale! If the Spirit truly was sent for all as Jesus prayed in John 17 - then the Mormons Extra New Testament of Jesus' Vacation in the 'Merica's is all the more shown to be in the least unnecessary and at worst unbiblical and destructive.

And while the conversation may be greater than this tiny thought on a partial passage...it isn't anything less.

Fathering A Wocket...

Fathering.

Think about the weight of this. It's something you are - a father. And something you do - father. It's both a noun and a verb. This isn't a role a man steps into lightly.

He may be paternal or adoptive but his relation is only as important as his action. He cares for, protects and provides. He assumes responsibility for...but all that's still just technical stuff. Stuff that's assumed when father is your state of being.

My daily fathering is all of that technical stuff with skin on - It's:
laughing at 'bargains' (what my son calls a fart)
break dancing after a long day
reading about Jonah and the Wocket in My Pocket
learning patience amidst tantrum...after tantrum...after tantrum
answering the question again
wiping
feeding
modeling
missing when I'm gone - aching to return
discipline...again and again...with grace
fostering joy
discerning frustrations and anger
encouraging without exasperating
hoping without faulty expectations
praying often...though not enough
guiding and providing and professing and being.

Sometimes it's simply staying.

Always it's loving.

And right at this very moment it's quitting the blog post and building with play-tools...It's always here and now. Fathering is my nature, it's my state of being until I die. It's who I am and what I am.

Read John 15:9 to catch a glimpse of fatherhood discipleship...What He gives us, we pass on to our own.