Posted: December 5th, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: Bible study, healing |
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I love reading the different exchanges between the disciples and Jesus. He constantly tried to show them what this new life is all about, how God works, and how to look at things in a different way. I read these stories trying to understand what Jesus said and trying to understand why, sometimes, the disciples didn’t understand.
One exchange between the disciples and Jesus that I find interesting is found in John 9. The group of men passed a man who was born blind and they asked Jesus:
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” -John 9:2
That was how things worked back then. Sin, either the sin of a parent or the sin of a person, could be the cause of bad things happening to people. Many religions still believe this. They call it karma.
Jesus answered them, showing them that bad things happen for a bigger purpose. It’s about God, not about the sin.
“It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” -John 9:3
Jesus made people think outside the box.
Jesus said that ‘the works of God’ would be displayed in him. More than the miraculous healing happened in this story.
When the Pharisees found out that Jesus healed him, they said that He couldn’t be from God because He sinned in order to heal the man. He healed Him on the Sabbath.
Jesus defied religious tradition.
Almost everyone doubted the man’s healing.
The religious leaders questioned everyone, including the healed man’s parents. His parents believed what happened, they had no choice, but they were too afraid to go against the religious grain to say it was true.
“We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)” -John 9:20-22
They were afraid of being kicked out of their church if they admitted to what they knew Jesus did.
The religious leaders went back to the healed man and told him that in order to give glory to God, he had to change his story.
“Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” -John 9:24
They called Jesus a sinner because he did things out of their order. They were the authority on what is of God and what wasn’t and they deemed the way Jesus did things as ‘not of God.’
They questioned him about how, exactly Jesus healed him. And the man did his best to answer them. They were pretentious and arrogant toward him. He shared what Jesus did for him, but was not able to make them get it.
“If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” -John 9:33
While he was trying to use their own understanding of how God works, they belittled him saying:
“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. -John 9:34
They didn’t like what he had to say. It contradicted their authority. It contradicted their religion. It contradicted the very thing that set them above everyone else, so they ‘cast him out’.
When Jesus heard what the religious leaders did to him, He found him and asked:
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” -John 9:35
All this man knew is that Jesus was from God and He healed Him. He didn’t know who ‘the Son of Man’ was, but if the healer believed in Him, then he would, too.
“And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” -John 9:36
This is my favorite part. Did he already know? How could every part of his body not be ripping from him and leaning in to this flesh and blood manifestation of his creator?
“You have seen him,” answered Jesus, “and it is he who is speaking to you.” (John 9:37)
“Lord, I believe.” (John 9:38)
How could he not? Jesus made it impossible to deny.
“For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” -John 9:39
That’s an interesting twist. He made a point to reveal the Great Reversal. The least greatest, the greatest least; the last first and the first last. He ‘sinned’ to reveal Himself to the blind and utterly blinded the one’s who usually see.
The Pharisees were like gnats, always hanging around the fruit, trying to speed up the spoil with their constant cynical and antagonistic questioning.
Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ”Are we also blind?” -John 9:40
Yes. Yes, you are.
If you actually heard the words of God as though you had something new to learn, you wouldn’t be in the wrong even though the newly revealed truth puts you in the wrong. The fact that you think you know everything well enough to not have anything new to learn makes you blind. Do you think it’s some coincidence that the truth comes from someone you don’t respect or even like? It’s almost like Someone is using every side of the grater to either shred your pride or make you fight with your own self-righteousness. It’s not just to mess with you, it’s a thermometer. Are you boiling? If so, then you need the medicine.
Jesus said to them, ”If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” -John 9:41
All of this happened to ‘display the works of God.’ It shows how things happen.
- Jesus defied religious tradition to the point of being called a ‘sinner’.
- Many people will doubt the healing.
- Some people are too afraid to speak up when it goes against the grain.
- Those who do, stand a chance of being kicked out of their church.
- Self-righteous people will use God’s name and your desire to glorify Him to manipulate you into submission to them.
- God uses the most unlikely (unworthy?) to reveal His truth.
- Self-righteous people will belittle you if you don’t cave in to their version.
- Jesus made the blind man see before he believed in Him.
- If you know you have more to learn, you’re guiltless.
- If you think you know it all, you’re guilty of what you don’t know.
You have to admit that you are blind. If you’re blind, He can make you see. If you think you’re not blind, then you’ll always be blind. Only crazy people don’t think they’re crazy.
Posted: September 29th, 2011 |
Filed under: life | Tags: Bible study |
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This is the final post in a series of word studies that I am doing to try to reveal the best explanation of a specific scripture:
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.- Hebrews 6:4-6
I think I’ve written a small book here. 8,515 words and 57 scriptures, not including this post, to explain one sentence in the Bible. I picked this verse because it is potent and filled with life, but it is often used in a way that suffocates the last bit of hope out of the wheezing breath of a failure.
The usual interpretation is that if you really were a Christian you wouldn’t knowingly sin. But, if you do, it’s so much worse. That’s not what this scripture means.
Many ‘believers’ are still living with the belief that Jesus never came. They believe that Adam’s legacy lives and this world is lost, but that’s not the truth. Adam’s legacy died with Jesus and the new legacy was born with His resurrection. The only part of this world that is ‘lost’ are those who don’t know the truth. They need to be told that they’re not lost. ‘Enlightened’ means ‘sight’.
They need to be told about ‘the heavenly gift’. It’s a gift of grace, of life, and of righteousness. You can’t earn grace, you can’t stick your existence in a test tube and expect to produce life, and you cannot, by any means whatsoever, be ‘righteous’ enough. It’s called a gift for a reason. You can accept it or reject it, but rejecting it causes torment and accepting it requires faith. You can’t even have faith without God dishing it out to you. Faith comes from hearing the Truth, that’s how God set it up. The truth cannot even be spoken without God sending someone to speak it. There are many ‘speakers of the truth’ out there, but they are speaking some counterfeit message and claiming it as the Gospel. That’s why people have a hard time accepting the real Gospel when they hear it. Even so, God busts through all the counterfeit crap and shows Himself in a way that rips the doors off their hinges.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? …But they have not all obeyed the gospel. …So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. …”I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” -Romans 10:14-16; 20
You’re completely helpless without Him and He is unbelievably resourceful when it comes to shaking the lies off of His truth.
Yet, still, in all of your journey of Him calling you and you tripping over yourself, Him loving you and you sabotaging your best intentions, and Him bringing loves into your life and you maiming those loves with your selfishness, He doesn’t quit. Here is the ‘sharing in the Holy Spirit’ part: You know what it is to want to do the right thing, but still do the wrong thing. That is exceedingly crucial for you to pay attention to. You need to be able to tell the difference between your ‘flesh’ and the Holy Spirit. Your mistakes are not evidence that you are separated from God. You wouldn’t even be aware of your failures if He wasn’t working inside of you.
God loves you. He knows you and He loves you. He’ll never give up on you, He’s never surprised by your poor choices, He knew all of it before you were even born and that is why He sent His Son. If you could have done this right, Jesus wouldn’t have died for you. You are never without hope. It’s a ‘strange love story’, you and He.
You don’t ‘fall away’ by your sin. You ‘fall away’ by not accepting the truth. You ‘fall away’ by trying to be righteous on your own and lying in your own defeat when you can’t be good enough.
Sometimes the best way for you to give up your sweaty religion and rely on Him is for you to see just how feeble your own ‘goodness’ is. When God allows you to make damaging choices, it’s not to defeat you, it’s to get you to hold on to something else. He wants you to see Him and hold on to Him. If you have to break for that to happen, He’s going to let you break. When you see the purpose, His purpose, that’s ‘repentance’. Repentance says, “I wouldn’t know You like this if I hadn’t gone through that.” You no longer look at your sin as the black stain in your past, you look at it as the catapult to life. ‘Turning from sin and turning to God.” Look at the power of God when you think of the way He can use your sin. No one can condemn you. No one can take His love from you. Not even you. When He says that you are ‘more than conquerors’, He means it.
No, in all theses things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:37-39
It is impossible to know this and for it to not change absolutely everything. You can’t see all of this in clarity and then revert to your defeat without someone having to come along and re-crucify Jesus for you because, for some reason, you don’t think He got it right the first time.
That’s what this one sentence in Hebrews means. Maybe someone can say it better than I can, and that’s fine, but if you get it then believe it and be free. Stop waiting for the hammer to drop, there is no new evidence against you. You can stop hiding and start living.
We need more real believers to show others where life is.
Are you with me?
Posted: September 28th, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: Bible study |
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This is the sixth post in a series of word studies that I am doing to try to reveal the best explanation of a specific scripture:
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.- Hebrews 6:4-6
What is repentance?
To ‘repent’ is to see in a new light after the fact. It’s an afterthought, not a forethought. It is a reversal of your state of mind. God gives repentance and/or leads men to it. It is turning from sin to God through faith. It’s a spiritual conversion. (Vines)
I’m sitting here trying to explain what the ‘ottoman’ is to my five-year-old. She’s about 6 minutes from going out to the bus and driving her eight-year-old sister crazy. Grant it, she’s only standing over her and watching as she ties her shoes, but for whatever reason, it’s making her sister crazy, so I asked her to sit on the ottoman. That’s when I discovered that she didn’t know what it was. (More likely, she was acting so she didn’t have to sit there.) I got her to understand what the ottoman was by telling her what it wasn’t.
Repentance is not asking for forgiveness. It is not a confession of sin. Asking for forgiveness is a confession of sin and a request for mercy.
“I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ - Matthew 18:32-33 (said by the ruler in Jesus’ analogy to the servant on whom he had mercy, but was not merciful to others)
The man to whom the ruler was speaking admitted his fault, asked for mercy, received it, but did not repent. Because he did not repent, he was not set free in grace.
“And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” -Jesus in Matthew 18:34-35
You know that someone has repented and has accepted God’s grace by the way they treat others when it comes to them handing out forgiveness and grace.
“…godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” - 2 Corinthians 7:10
Repentance leads to salvation without regret. Meaning, when you have repented, it turns your sin into something you can thank God for allowing. Zero regret in light of repentance. Repentance is what you learned. It’s the view ‘after the fact.’ It’s a ‘change of mind’. It’s turning from the sin, which causes regret and stings, and it’s turning to God, which causes the relief of salvation. The effect of repentance is the inability to withhold forgiveness from others because you see it differently now.
I’ll illustrate this with pieces of my own story.
My own sin wrecked my life. Because of my affair, I lost my church family, my friends, my marriage, my good name, my future as I saw it, and I lost my self-respect. In the aftermath of my sin, God spoke nothing but forgiveness and grace to me, but I had a hard time accepting the simplicity of it. It didn’t add up as I saw it. I was more wrong than I had ever been and I hated myself. I wanted to believe that He forgave me, that He still loved me, but I couldn’t. I was sorry, I hated my sin, I wanted to go back and change my choices, I wanted to find some way to pay for my horrible and indecent behavior, I wanted others to be free of me and the pain I caused, but I was not repentant. I thought I knew what repentance was and I thought that I had it, I was sorry… I wasn’t sticking up for myself…I was submissive to whatever God wanted me to do, but I realize now that wasn’t repentance. Because of that, I could not accept His grace. I could not be saved from guilt and shame.
Through the journey in the aftermath, I resigned myself to the fact that I could do nothing right and could not talk myself into believing that I was forgiven. So, I began asking God to show me what path to take from that point forward. I could try to mend the life I ruined, but I and the others involved did not want to mend it. I could try to establish my life within the changes my sin caused, but I did not believe that God was with me anymore. I did not want to establish anything that God was not in. I was trapped in a spiritual hell and had no clue how to get out.
I prayed constantly for Him to make the path clear. Everything in my life was set up like a temporary tent. I had a borrowed home, a job that wouldn’t miss me, and zero relationships. I had nothing holding me except for the fact that I had no place to go. I had no home. I was pregnant from my affair, but I saw it as an excuse to move forward in the life I stole and refused to accept it. I didn’t know what to do about that aspect, but I was no longer in the position, because of my submission, to make any choices for my own life. For months I lived with the possibility that I would have to give my baby to her father and return to a marriage I no longer wanted. But, if that was the price I had to pay, then I would pay it. I just needed a clear path, straight from God, and so I prayed. I prayed consciously unworthy and desperate prayers, not for something specific, but for anything at all. Assurance in a direction, …that is all I wanted.
In my brokenness, I turned to scripture to find my answers. It was frustrating, to be completely transparent, because the Gospel did not reveal my condemnation. The further I got into scripture, freedom and grace through Jesus was the only thing I saw. So, I didn’t believe that God had accounted for me in His word. I couldn’t make it add up because it was too easy.
One day, on a whim, I checked out a home that was listed in the paper. It was ‘for sale by owner’ with a ridiculously low down payment and a monthly payment I could afford. My credit, due to my marital spit, was absolutely atrocious. There is no way I could get approved for anything, so I thought it was harmless to check out what I could never have.
I met the man at the house. It was brand new… three weeks away from being finished. I was standing in the living room, looking up at the 12-foot ceilings, when he asked me if I could see myself there. Tears of regret stung my eyes and I swallowed by overwhelming lump of shame to say, ‘yes’. When he asked if I wanted to get the paperwork started, I felt even more shame. That man had no idea that I had wasted his time. As soon as he saw what I looked like on paper, he wouldn’t be so eager.
“Do you want to know anything about me?” It was my resignation talking.
“No. I’m a good judge of character.” His exact words.
No, you’re not. Clearly. My thoughts bled through my eyes, but he didn’t see them.
We sat at a table and I signed a contract. I gave him the money and he gave me the keys. It was that fast. I was overwhelmed and started to panic. This was a decision. I can’t make decisions. I’m a mess. It happened too fast and I was confused. I was either making another horrible choice, or… I didn’t know.
He was standing to leave when I asked him the name of his company.
“Pathway Properties.” he answered.
I almost threw up. …Pathway…
I felt the undeniable Presence. The wind of freedom and absolute blessing was crushing me.
“Why?” I was asking God, but to the man it sounded like I was asking him…
“Why are you doing this?” I couldn’t recover, but he thought he knew what I meant and answered me.
“My wife and I are Christians and feel like it’s our calling to provide good homes to good people.”
I had prayed for months for God to show me the path He wanted me to take. I was left with keys poking my palm and the overwhelming presence, thick with anticipation. The pressure pounding four words in my ears. …The expectant whisper screaming a question over the sound of my heartbeat:
“Do you see Me?”
God gave me a home. Pathway Properties. He gave me roots. He gave me a place to grow an overrun garden of grace.
He gave me a place to see Him. My life is an eternal nod, “Yes. I see you.”
Repentance is seeing Him. My sin is the only reason I know Him like I do. My sin removes any possibility for me to take any credit for my salvation. Undeniably undeserved. Overwhelming mercy. Crazy inexplicable grace.
My worship is only possible because of grace. Knowing that is repentance. My life’s purpose is to try to get others to see Him, too. I only knew what my purpose was because of my sin. Being able to say that is repentance. I can forgive myself and accept His grace because of what I learned through my sin. That’s repentance.
Salvation without regret. That’s repentance.
Read the definition of repentance at the beginning of this post again…
“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”…You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. But to those who can’t see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight. These are people— Whose eyes are open but don’t see a thing, Whose ears are open but don’t understand a word, Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven. …Do you see how this story works?” -Jesus in Mark 4:9-13 MSG
I want to know… do you see Him?
she's not on the ottoman, she's looking out the window
Posted: September 26th, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: Bible study |
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This is the fifth in a series of word studies that I am doing to try to reveal the best explanation of a specific scripture:
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.- Hebrews 6:4-6
What ‘falling away’ means…
Refusal to acknowledge God’s claims and His Christ; to not adhere to the realities and facts of the faith. (Vines)
To put it as clearly as possible, ‘falling away’ does not mean ‘doing something wrong’. I’m not saying that wrong is right, I’m saying that God rights wrongs. ‘Falling away’ is a faith issue, not a morality issue.
Here are some claims, made by God or by Jesus about God, that are hard to understand. These things mold and shape our perspective of God and if you do not acknowledge them, then you’ll have huge holes in your system of faith that will snag you and keep you from being ‘enlightened’, ‘tasting the heavenly gift’, ‘sharing in the Holy Spirit’, or understanding the ‘goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come’ enough to ‘share in them.’
If you do not understand the risks that God takes with us, then you will end up rejecting Him and will not see clearly enough to accept His grace and His purpose for your life. You will fail on the most elementary way and have no idea what you’re talking about when you’re ‘standing up for your faith’.
- In Genesis, God used the evil intent of Joseph’s brothers to save the lives of countless people, including Joseph’s brothers. (Genesis 50:20)
- In Exodus, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would abuse the Israelites more because He wanted the Israelites to know what they were being rescued from and the Egyptians to know that He was real when He showed up to destroy Pharaoh. (Exodus 4:21, 7:3, 9:12, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:4, 14:8, and 14:17)
- In Luke 22, Jesus gave Satan permission to viciously attack Peter, cause him to deny Jesus, so that Peter would learn about the need for Jesus. (Luke 22:31-32)
- In Romans 11, God revealed that He gave His people a ‘spirit of stupor’ and made them blind to the truth because their failure would actually cause the salvation of those who would have never come otherwise. (Romans 11:8, 9-10)
- In John 11, Jesus purposely let Lazarus die, let him remain dead for four days, just so He could give everyone ‘new grounds for believing’ when He raised him from the dead. (John 11:14)
- In 1 Samuel, God put an evil spirit on Saul to torment him because it created a need for David in his presence. (1 Samuel 16:14, 18:10; 19:9; Judges 9:23)
- Finally, Isaiah 45, depending on your translation, says that God creates light and He creates darkness, He creates well being and calamity, He creates peace and He creates evil. Every passage ends the statement with “I, the Lord, do all these things.” He does them so that you can see Him. (Isaiah 45:7)
Every single one of these examples contradict the general belief that God only exists where it feels good. God, generally, is not acknowledged in the dark because the dark doesn’t fit on top of the doily we’ve created for our drugstore-Jesus-trinket shrine.
People want their God to be safe. They want Him to be their escape from the ‘real’ world. That’s all fine as long as your existence has no pain, no failure, no oppression, and nothing that completely derails everything you’ve ever planned for yourself. How in the heck do you join the ‘real’ (here-and-now human existence) world with the faith world unless you acknowledge that God is the God of all of it?
- Joseph’s family and countless others would have starved to death if Joseph’s brothers never acted on their evil intent.
- The Israelites never would have left Egypt if God did not make it so hard that their lives were in danger.
- Peter never would have the kind of faith needed to be ‘the rock’ if he did not know what it was to blatantly deny Jesus.
- You would not have the invitation to salvation if the Jews were not so blind that they rejected Jesus.
- None of us would know how far God would go to prove that Jesus was His son if Lazarus never died.
- Gods plan for David to be king would not have happened if Saul were not tormented by an evil spirit.
- God creates discord and He cleans it up so that you can see what He does.
If the God in the light is not the same God in the dark, then it’s no wonder people lock themselves into their cultish safe houses and kick out anyone who threatens their peaceful one-dimensional existence.
God does things to get you out of your box. He wants to be known and He takes some huge risks to pull that curtain aside to let you have a peek. The risks He takes will derail you, undo you, strip your masks, and make you face the reality of what you’ve put your faith in.
None of this makes sense nor is it possible without understanding the facts about Jesus. People assume that Jesus was an afterthought when ‘man fell’ and messed up our idea of ‘His perfect plan’. God is God. If He made a ‘perfect plan’ then there is no way you can mess it up. You need to know that His plan was to send His son to die for your sins. His plan was never to create a race of human beings who would never need Him.
Jesus was never an afterthought. Jesus was the reason we were created. We were created for God and His love. You should already know this. But, look at what Jesus says here:
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends…”-John 15:13-14
- All of the trouble you face is temporary and it serves a much bigger purpose.
- When someone hurts you, wait for the reason God allowed it. It could be what saves your life.
- When you mess up, be aware of your need for Jesus. Satan is on a short leash when it comes to how much he can mess with you. He’ll never win.
- When the people who should know better are so blind to grace that they refuse to acknowledge Jesus, it makes you dig deeper on your own because your eternal life depends on it. You can thank them for it. Or, better yet, you can thank God for allowing their lack of vision. They cut the umbilical cord between you and them and now you can have a direct line to God.
He tells you that He creates all of this because knowing it and believing it removes any excuse for you to give up on yourself or to give up on anyone else no matter what you or they have done. Knowing that God is the God of all of it sets you free to love. It’s uniting under one truth and it’s that one truth that you must understand.
The only way you can love the unloveable is if you can see Him in them. The only way you can see Him in them is if you know what He looks like. If you don’t know what He looks like, then you cannot do the one thing you have been called to do: LOVE. You can do a lot of other great things, but you cannot fulfill the your most important calling. That’s why you can claim Him your entire life, but still have zero relationship with Him. It’s all hopeless and meaningless without love. Stop looking at people and circumstances and start looking at God.
God created you for love. He created you so that He could lay His life down for you. He didn’t create you because He needed you, He created you to need Him. God is only Himself, which is Love. Jesus was planned first, you were planned after. Jesus had His purpose, to be the sacrifice for you, before the earth on which you walk even existed. You don’t mess anything up. You are part of a much, much bigger picture and until you can grasp the magnitude of a God who never has been and never will be limited by the choices you or someone else makes, then you will never know freedom, love, grace, and you will never really live.
But, once you do know these things, if you fail to acknowledge them, that is when you fall away. Sinning is when you conduct your life like Jesus wasn’t first in line and God is not in control. He came way ahead of you. We all hear this, but few actually get it. Once you do get it, though, it’s ‘impossible’ to go back to not knowing.
You can’t un-know what you know. But, refusing to acknowledge it is what ‘falling away’ means.
Posted: September 22nd, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: Bible study |
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This is the fourth in a series of word studies that I am doing to try to reveal the best explanation of a specific scripture.
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. - Hebrews 6:4-6
What does it mean to have ‘tasted the goodness of the word of God”?
The three previous posts in this study are starting to fold in together and combine into a message that spells out the ‘goodness of the word of God.” When you have been ‘enlightened’, you have tasted. When you have ‘tasted the heavenly gift’, you have tasted the ‘goodness’. When you have shared in the ‘Holy Spirit’, you have tasted. All of these things offer hope and that hope is in ‘the powers of the age to come.’
Instead of rewriting what I have already written, I will illustrate the combined meaning with a strange love story. This love story was written in the Bible to illustrate what God’s love is like for you. God is Hosea and you are Gomer.
When Hosea married Gomer, he knew she was a slut. He didn’t marry her for some sexually twisted purpose; he married her because he loved her. God put them together. Maybe, in her own way, she loved him, too. They began their lives, had babies, and everything seemed to be normal until Gomer started slipping away again.
She wore jewelry that she didn’t get from him. She washed filthy lingerie that he never saw her wear. The scent of her perfume was tainted with the scent of another man’s lust. Hosea’s heart was raked across a shredder every time she flipped her hair and laughed her drunk laugh.
He knew Gomer wouldn’t listen to him, not like a wife. Her hips weren’t his. She wouldn’t be moved by witnessing his pain, not like he was her husband. It was somebody else’s breath that was on her. But, maybe she would listen to her children…
“Plead with your mother, plead—for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband—that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts; lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born…” -Hosea 2:2-3
Gomer smirked at the threats.
‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ -Hosea 2:5
Hosea was a joke to her, but there was something she didn’t know.
It was Hosea that bought the jewelry that other men gave her. It was he who paid for the lingerie that other men removed. It was his wine that left her drunk and naked in another man’s bed.
“And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold…” -Hosea 2:8
Why would he do that? Why would he slip gold into the hands of another man who would just use them to use her? It was because he was setting her up. He was giving her something to lose and, when the time came for her to see the whole truth, she would know that there was nothing she could do that would make him not love her. She thought she had secrets, but she was the one who was in the dark. He loved her so much, that he told the other men how to love her the way she wanted. He laid down his life for her and let her betray him so that when she lost her life, she would only have one place to go: back to him.
Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. -Hosea 2:9-10
Hosea waited until she was high on herself, and then he took his provision away and let her fall. He let her suffer the shame and embarrassment of no longer being wanted. She saw herself as she really was. Used goods. Naked with no way to wash off the smell of lust and no fresh change of clothes for her walk home. She had to take the walk of shame and feel the hangover of the many nights before.
This is exactly where he wanted her. Smudged mascara, wrinkled dress, twisted underwear, and hangover breath. Yesterday’s hair, chipped nails, walking barefoot along the sidewalk because she couldn’t find her other shoe. A whore’s morning wilderness.
And there, says Hosea, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,…And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,” (Hosea 2:14, 15)
Hosea took her un-showered and showered her with his love because that was the only way she could really believe it. If she argued, ‘Don’t touch me. I’m dirty.’ He would respond, ‘If I touch you while you’re dirty, you will never doubt my love.’
He made a promise to her, “I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know…” (Hosea 2:18-20)
And she responded, “My husband.” (Hosea 2:16)
When God finally has you, and you are finally grasping His love, you can practically see Him lift His head to the heavens and yell, “I love her!” And the heavens will tell the earth, “He loves her!” and the earth will tell the grain, “He loves her!” and the grain will tell the wine, “He loves her!” and the wine will tell the oil, “He loves her!” (Hosea 2:21-22)
“…and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ’You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’” -Hosea 2:23
When you have ‘tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, then everything you see, everything you drink, everything you touch, will scream, “He loves you!”
“…if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” then you are “a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,” (1 Peter 2:3-4)
The story between you and God is a strange love story. It’s designed to grab you when you have no where else to turn and adorn you when you least deserve it. ‘Rejected’ by everyone else while being called ‘chosen and precious’ by Him.
Posted: September 21st, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: Bible study |
5 Comments »
This is the third in a series of word studies that I am doing to try to reveal the best explanation of a specific scripture.
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. - Hebrews 6:4-6
What is “sharing in the Holy Spirit” like?
This can be understood better by examining the contrast between Spirit and flesh.
The Holy Spirit marks you with the seal labeled “perfect” because of the grace of Jesus. Alternately, the flesh looks to better itself by its own works. (Vines)
Galatians 4 uses Abraham’s illegitimate son, Ishmael, and his legitimate son, Isaac, as examples of the contriving of the ‘flesh’ versus the gift of the ‘Spirit.’ The reason why these two are good examples is because Ishmael was conceived out of a ‘works’ or ‘flesh’ based faith and Isaac was conceived as a God-promised gift to a woman who could never conceive on her own.
But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit so also it is now. –Galatians 4:29 (this scripture references Ishmael laughing at Isaac in Gen 21:9)
“Persecuted” can mean a lot of things, but in this example in scripture it means that the one who is more about ‘works’ mocks the one who is more about ‘grace’.
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. –Galatians 5:17-18
This scripture can be explained by Paul’s flesh vs. spirit dilemma in Romans 7. Paul wanted to do good, but had nothing good in him, so he was unable. He didn’t want to make bad choices, but he still did. His ‘flesh’ kept him from “doing the things [he] want[ed] to do”. The relief from the tug-of-war is found in the last sentence: “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
In the same way a ‘do not touch’ sign on a table makes you want to touch the table, the law makes you more rebellious than you would be without it.
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. –Romans 7:7-8
If you have freedom to touch the table, you probably wouldn’t even think about touching it. Freedom brings out your ‘Spirit’ nature the same way the law brings out your ‘flesh’ nature.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. –Romans 8:2
The minute you start focusing on all the things you should not do, they become more enticing and you build your life in a way to avoid them. It looks noble, no doubt, but those who do this fail to notice that sin is their ‘true north’ and they build their lives according to it. When you try to avoid sin, it is sin that is guiding you.
Think of it like a predator that you do not want near your home. You find out where the predator lives and you build your home far away from it. If the predator moves, you move. It’s a life of fear that keeps its eyes on the enemy as a way of self-preservation.
If your eye is on the predator and his moves dictate your moves, then he is controlling you. Living in the spirit means that you do not have to live in fear, you can live where you want or where you’re lead, because the predator is no longer a threat. You are not ‘led’ by avoidance. More often than not, the Holy Spirit will lead you to a place where you cannot, without it, survive.
In trying to do right, you become wrong because your focus is on the sin, not on God. You’re relying on your ability, not the Spirit. It’s very backward and hard to grasp, but it’s the truth. This is a ‘narrow path’… remember? It’s not ‘narrow’ in they way it is typically understood. It’s narrow because you have to rely on faith (spirit) and not yourself (flesh).
A man is told that, in order to walk in the Spirit, he must walk across a tightrope to get to the other side of a huge ravine. He surveys the task and finds it to be impossible. So, he gathers some equipment to secure him to the rope in case he falls. He’s strong, he’s smart, and he’s resourceful. He puts on gloves to protect his hands, he makes sure his equipment is working properly, and he begins his journey along the rope. Once he’s on the other side, he is blindsided by what he learned. It’s not about the rope, it’s not about crossing the rope, and it’s not about the destination. It’s about who his faith was in. He relied on himself to make it, and though he traveled the path, he failed.
You can argue that God gave him the equipment to do it himself, but that’s not how walking in the Spirit works. Ishmael was born because Abraham had the ability to conceive him, but that was flesh. Peter walked on water without the use of anything but faith. As soon as he realized what he was doing, he started to sink.
You are not righteous because you are moral. As soon as you become aware of your morality, you start to sink.
Anything that you can take credit for is all you. You can say that you give credit to God, but that’s the argument of Sarah. God promised Abraham that his offspring would be a nation, but Sarah couldn’t have children, so she took it into her own hands and had Abraham sleep with her servant, Hagar. Why Abraham took the chance to sleep with another woman and didn’t argue with her is between him and God and that is exactly what Sarah said to him. “May the Lord judge between you and me!” (Gen17:5) Sarah was desperate to fulfill God’s purpose for her family, but her ‘flesh’ trumped her faith and she immediately regretted it.
“Sharing in the Holy Spirit” is when you know, without question, that you were a part of something that had nothing to do with your ability.
hagar, abraham, ... and sarah.
Below are some suggestions for discussions:
- What are some other examples of the spirit vs. flesh? (Mary and Martha?…)
- Sarah was looked upon in “contempt” by Hagar. (Gen16:5) The Bible uses this as an example of flesh vs. spirit. (Gal4:29) Have you every been treated as ‘less than’ because of your view of grace? How would you encourage someone who has?
Posted: September 20th, 2011 |
Filed under: God, life | Tags: Bible study, personal |
13 Comments »
This is the second in a series of word studies that I am doing to try to reveal the best explanation of a specific scripture.
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. - Hebrews 6:4-6
What is “the heavenly gift”?
Life, grace, righteousness (Vines)
And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. -Romans 5:16-17
Once again, scripture shows that Jesus cancels out Adam’s legacy. Adam brought condemnation. Jesus brought justification.
It’s depressing to me that people find it easier to believe in an angry God than a God of mercy. People find it easier to accept defeat than to believe in victory. The problem is that they can’t get over their relationship to the Law.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. –Romans 8:3
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. -1 Corinthians 15:56
Think of it like an abusive ex who was a good person until alcohol made him or her a terrorist. The fear-laced memory of the former is stealing your ability to be loved and accepted by anyone new.
It’s hard to accept a gift if you don’t trust the giver. What’s in it for them? And what are they going to require of you if you accept it?
I remember when I was six-years-old and living in a foster home with a couple that couldn’t conceive their own children. I always thought it was why the foster mom didn’t seem to like me. She would point out my flaws and had an uncanny knack for making me feel ashamed of myself for being me.
I was the only child in the house and used to sit in front of the mirror and pretend I had a friend. I would stare at my features trying to figure myself out. I had a hard time feeling real. Sometimes I would try to see my real mom in my face. But, most of the time I would stare at my body and wonder what made me unwanted.
When I would catch her watching me, she would tell me that I was “very vain” and walk away. Her words cut through me like a serrated blade and I literally winced.
I still wince.
I tried to be good and to show her that I had manners, but when I called her ‘ma’am’, she grabbed the skin on my throat, tugging me toward her so that we were face-to-face. While pinching my skin so hard that I could feel my heart beat in my neck, she gritted her teeth and told me that I was never to call her ‘ma’am.’
I wanted to give her gifts for Christmas, but had no money, so I went in my room and looked for something she might like. My real mom was a gypsy, and every time I got taken away from her she would give me pieces of her jewelry so that I would be connected to her. I went into my room and found one of my mother’s rings. I never would have given it away if I didn’t think it would make my foster mom love me.
I didn’t have a box, but wanted it to be safe, so I hid it in a wad of soft toilet paper. Then I sneaked a scrap of wrapping paper and some tape.
When I placed the gift under the tree, the foster mom went over and picked it up. I could tell I was about to be in trouble, but I knew that when she opened it she would be impressed. It was a piece of my six-year-old heart in that terribly wrapped wad. I suddenly felt ashamed seeing what looked like an odd piece of trash in her hand. Christmas was still a few days away, so it surprised me when she ripped it open. She was so rough with it that the ring fell on the floor.
She bent down to look at it and said, “Serena, you don’t give people your used junk as gifts.” Then she walked away.
I felt small and sick. The foster mom had rejected me and I betrayed my real mom. I picked up the tainted ring, threw it in the bathroom trash, and went to my room because I couldn’t hide my emotions. I felt alone and I wanted my mom back. I thought I was honoring her by throwing it and the memory it would now represent in the trash, but it kept calling out to me in my mother’s voice. I ran to the trash, dug it out, and put it under my pillow so that I could hold it in my hand all night. Cleansed with the sweat of my sticky palm.
I went on to several different foster homes after that. They weren’t all as lonely as that one, but I never did get my fill of love.
I told you all that to tell you that it has always been hard for me to accept love. After I became a Christian, I still felt like a foster child with God. I wasn’t one of His prized possessions. I was a dirty little street kid that He let come around. I felt like He had bonds with others that He didn’t share with me. I felt like He spoke secrets to others that He never told me.
I was still loyal to Him and tried to prove my worth. I wanted Him to love me and I never had to question it if I never did anything wrong. I relied on my conscience to give me a vacant spot on His floor. But, I still felt like an odd piece of trash in a scrap of wrapping paper.
When I sinned my huge, horrible sin, I was told that I was no longer welcome. All of His other kids told me that His love doesn’t reach to the depths of my filth and the decent thing would be to disappear. They honored Him by throwing me away.
I felt small and sick. My shame screamed in my ears and my heartbeat mocked my spirit. I was the rejected betrayer, once again. I was the ring calling out from the trash.
God came running after me. He left everyone in the house and called my name into the night.
God never spoke to me when I was earning my way the way He does now that I am incapable. I find His grace in the clarity of His voice. I find life in what I hear Him say. He never called me righteous until I knew for a fact that I wasn’t.
He held me through my night and cleansed me with the blood in his sticky palm.
That’s ‘the Heavenly gift.’
I only have a couple of photos of myself when I was a child. I have a photocopied picture of myself when I was six, but I ‘X’ed it out when I was little. A forever reminder of my self-worth. This is the closest I could get to my age from the story. It’s a picture of me when I was three.
Below are some suggestions for discussions:
Events in your past affect the way you handle life now. Things that you struggle with in your relationships, even in your own head, have a root. Often times, we make attribute human qualities to God. We limit Him. This makes it hard to trust His love, to accept His ‘heavenly gift’, and believe that He is not judging our worth based on us.
- What do you think God sees when He looks at you?
- Which human qualities are you attributing to God?
Posted: September 19th, 2011 |
Filed under: God | Tags: Bible study |
22 Comments »
This is the first in a series of word studies that I am doing to try to reveal the best explanation of a specific scripture.
I have included a few of the cross-reference scriptures to help understand the word in Biblical context. The scriptures and interpretation are found by reading every scripture where the word is used and by following the cross-references from the original scripture.
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. - Hebrews 6:4-6
What is “enlightened”?
Sight (Vines)
What are we supposed to be seeing?
No longer will there be anything accursed…-Revelation 22:3 (the curse was because of Adam’s sin Gen 3:17)
In the same way that Adam changed everything for the human race, Jesus changed everything for the human race. Jesus reversed what Adam started.
We know this is true, that we are living in a redeemed world, because:
…there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. -Zechariah 17:11
This plan was carried out when Jesus came:
In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ’The LORD is our righteousness.’ - Jeremiah 23:6
He is still ‘our righteousness’ so it is still ‘His days’.
We are supposed to be aware that Jesus changed everything for the human race. If He hadn’t, then we would still be waiting on our Savior. With this in mind, we no longer have to conduct ourselves as though we are one misstep away from ruining everything. He is ‘our righteousness’. What Jesus did steals the power from our failures and sets us free to be innocent by His grace.
Jesus reversed Adam’s sin. Sin no longer has the power.
It’s a hard road for those with weak faith. Even the strong in faith need to die to their ‘selves’ regularly to get this. Paul said that he died to himself daily. What that means is that we literally have to keep the finished work of Jesus active in our minds in order to counteract the way the rest of the world works. In everything else we do, we have to compete and earn our way. In the rest of the world, hardly anybody gets things handed to them. After enough time of trying to perfect your spiritual journey, it gets tiring to never feel like you’re good enough. You have to remember than you never will be. It might take huge stumble to get you to accept that. It did for me.
What you need is assurance that Jesus actually did what He set out to do. Scriptures prove it.
For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” - 1 Corinthians 15:27
Absolutely nothing is out of God’s control, jurisdiction, or purpose. Nothing upsets His plans, nothing has the power to knock Him off track. Sin is included in that. It no longer has power. It exists, but is always used for God’s purpose. God’s purpose is for you to know Him. Sin cannot separate you from His love. You can see it as the thing that kicks you out or the thing that reveals your need for Jesus. It’s your choice. You can accept it or reject it, but you can’t change the truth. Accepting the truth changes you.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. … And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. - John 1:12-13, 16-17
You are not a child of God because of your family, you are not a child of God because you want to be, and you are not a child of God because someone else wants you to be. You are a child of God because He chose you. He says you are, so you are. That is grace. ‘Grace upon grace.’ Jesus wiped out all of the proof that you are not good enough. Accepting that is your salvation.
The same is true in reverse:
You are not rejected by God because of your family, you are not rejected by God because you rejected Him, you are not rejected by God because someone else rejects you. You are not rejected by God because God chose you. The law wipes out proof that you are good enough. Rejecting that enslaves you.
When you can ‘see’, or when you have been ‘enlightened’, you know that you cannot ever be ‘good enough’. You have ‘the right’ to be a child of God because of the grace of Jesus. ‘Grace upon grace.’
How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? …but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” – Hebrews 10:29, 38
Not believing earns a worse punishment than those in Moses day received for not obeying the Law. Their punishment was ‘death without mercy’. I have no idea what punishment would be ‘worse’. If you live your life as though what Jesus did were not enough, thereby going back to the Law, you ‘outrage the Spirit of grace’. It is your faith in the finished work of Jesus that sets you right. Your failures are not what displease God. Your inability to accept His gift is what displeases God.
Grace, when taught correctly, seems too good to be true. It sounds too easy. People will hear it, think it should be harder, and shrink away from the simplicity.
It’s not supposed to be hard. The only thing hard about it is letting go of your wealth of good intent and strength in personal ability. This is great news for those who are wrecked with their failures. It’s challenging to those who just want that little extra to top them off.
In summary…
We’re supposed to be seeing that we live in a new existence that was created when Jesus came. We are not in the same existence that became a curse when Adam sinned. Everything is subject to God’s control and nothing is unusable for Him. His view of us is through the vision of His Son. Rejecting this is evidence that somewhere within you, you feel like you can do good enough to not need to rely on the gift of grace from Jesus. That outrages the spirit of grace. God would not have sent His Son if there were any way you could do it on your own. No act is greater worship than to relax your white knuckled grip and let Him take the weight off of your shoulders. Relief is what enlightenment feels like. Hope is what happens next. Worship is just natural.
Below are some suggestions for discussions:
- Do you have a hard time accepting grace?
- What difference would it make in your life if you were to believe that Jesus reversed Adam’s sin? (Would it make you see yourself differently? Would it make you see others differently?)
- What are the implications if this is all true?
- If you have been ‘enlightened’, what is it that made it all click for you?
Posted: September 18th, 2011 |
Filed under: life | Tags: Bible study |
8 Comments »
…and make you think.
The other day I was studying one specific word in the Bible. I was writing an essay about when Joseph told his brothers that God used their evil intent for their good. It’s a powerful statement and I used it to explain what ‘repent’ means. I spent a long time studying the use of the word ‘repent’ throughout the Bible, and I studied what Biblical scholars and theologians say about it. In studying that word, I came across a scripture I know well. The scripture is only one sentence and it has powerful, practically intrusive, meaning.
I have experienced people using this particular sentence to back up the claim that once you are a Christian, you cannot sin and then come back, not entirely. That implies that real Christians do not sin or that restoration is incomplete if they do. I know it sounds crazy that people actually believe that there is a point of no return, but some do, even if it’s subconsciously. It is one reason, among many, why people have a hard time accepting God’s grace, forgiveness, and love.
It is also a great example of why there is a lot of double-talk in religious conversations. One statement contradicts another and thinking individuals find it hard to stomach. It’s also why people get agitated when they are in a conversation with someone who is challenging their beliefs. Usually, when things don’t add up logically, they’ll revert to default mode and say that ‘they just have faith’.
Default mode takes over when they can’t explain what they mean and they want to end the uncomfortable conversation. The problem is, they can’t explain it because they don’t fully understand it. But, the truth is real. It doesn’t have to be completely understood to, at least, be grasped at a much deeper level. It takes some unraveling of preconceived ideas, and that is always uncomfortable if you have no issue with knowing only enough to dog paddle. My motivation is to get more people actually swimming, or more than that. I want people splashing and playing in the ocean of truth. It gives life, it’s freedom, and it makes a huge difference in every single aspect of how we live our lives.
Besides, once you see it, it makes for some amazing, breath giving conversations.
You know the truth when you hear it (John10:4). Faith comes from hearing (Rom10:17). That’s scripture. The reason why those scriptures are true is because God has written the ‘Truth’ on our hearts. Even non-believers have it written on their hearts. It’s the reason why the Truth sounds like home.
A point exists when you can hear someone quote a scripture, but use it in a way that doesn’t sit right. If you don’t know enough about theology to argue, then you are kind of stuck in this gross feeling that something is off.
The sentence I studied uses words that tend to not be questioned and the general cultural understanding of the words leads to an overall theory that ‘doesn’t sit right’.
I’m going to focus on this one particular sentence this week. I’ll pick out the main words and take the next few days to squeeze as much meaning as I can express out of them.
When I study, I use my Vine’s Biblical Dictionary and read the associated cross-reference scriptures. The Bible is one entire message, not little separated messages. If it seems to contradict itself, it’s because you’re not understanding what it’s saying.
With this sentence, I looked up the key words and read every scripture where those words were used. This is the best way to get the full contextual meaning.
I have updated my comment system and will leave them open so some great discussions can take place. This website is like my living room and I want people to feel safe, loved, and, most importantly, learn something that increases their faith in Jesus.
Here is the sentence we’ll be studying. I think that by the time we’re done with it, you’ll be pretty rocked. (in a refreshing way)…
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. - Hebrews 6:4-6
First up: ‘enlightened’
Second: ‘the “heavenly gift”‘
Third: “flesh vs. spirit”
Fourth: “strange love story”
Fifth: “what ‘falling away’ means”
Sixth: “repentance: do you see Him?”
Final: “re-crucifying Jesus”
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