Hey, Ya Know What?

Alter’d State’s 100th Show!!!

It’s My Birthday, So I Thought I Should Write Something

37

Casey Stengel’s  jersey number.

37

A prime number and the first irregular prime

37

The number of plays Shakespeare is given credit for writing (if you count Henry IV as 3 parts)

37

How I am now.

It’s a bit of a weird age to be. It means my mid-thirties are gone and 40 is around the corner. I’m not too sure how I feel about it, but know I am feeling something. I remember 27 affecting me greatly for some reason, and while it’s not to that level, I am feeling this one. While still relatively young, I am getting older and am starting to notice. :) Of course, in the grand scheme of things me turning 37 matters very little. We all have bigger more pressing things to deal with.

Anyway, I am very thankful and feel blessed to have watched another year go by. A year that was not all about me. It was another year with my wonderful wife, my beautiful children, and family and friends. It was a year that was financially rough for many, us included, but we were blessed with a home, food, clothes, and all the things we needed. I made new friends and reconnected with old ones. I saw milestones in the lives of my kids and so many good times…

Yes, it was a good year. Thanks so much to all of you who were a part of it and a part of my life.

Derek Webb and His New Controversy

So, Derek Webb, who I really enjoy, has a new album coming out, Stockholm Syndrome. It will actually have a “Clean” and “Explicit” version. For those who don’t know his music or why that matters, this guy sings about Jesus and the Church.

So, the huge controversy is his song “What Matters More”. As with most of his songs, it is very well written and very challenging. I am going to post a link to the song and the lyrics here. Tell me what you think. I will post my thoughts later…

You say you always treat people like you like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality
You love when people put words in your mouth
'Bout what you believe, make you sound like a freak

'Cause if you really believe what you say you believe
You wouldn't be so damn reckless with the words you speak
Wouldn't silently conceal when the liars speak
Denyin' all the dyin' of the remedy

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

If I can tell what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth
Then it sure looks to me like being straight is all it's about
It looks like being hated for all the wrong things
Like chasin' the wind while the pendulum swings

'Cause we can talk and debate until we're blue in the face
About the language and tradition that he's comin' to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit
About 50,000 people who are dyin' today

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters

Good for You Falwell Jr.!

I killed him on the banning of the Democratic Club ban. So now that he has applied the standard across the board I will give him props. Good on ya Jerry!

College Republicans Banned at Two Religious Universities - Political News - FOXNews.com .

Liberty's chancellor, Jerry Falwell Jr., told FOXNews.com in an interview that he did not de-list the school's Republican club in response to pressure he received from booting the Democrats from campus. Rather, he said, he was applying standards equally. He said he decided that both clubs would become "unofficial" -- meaning they receive no student funding but can meet on campus under approved circumstances.

How Big (or small) is Your Gospel

Many years ago I knew a pastor who had a very simple formula for ministry. He told me it was tried and true and for a time, I believed him and believed completely in the method. If you asked him what the key to sharing the Gospel was and what it was he wanted to accomplish, his answer was this:

“Get ‘em in and get ‘em saved.”

As far as getting them saved, he was a “Romans Road” guy, and so, spent a lot of time in the book of Romans and in Paul’s letters. He had everything boiled down to this philosophy and had complete tunnel vision. He wanted to get people saved and into heaven. It was (and still is) his life’s work. I hold much respect for the man and know that God has used him to bring many to salvation.

But I always knew something was amiss. Something wasn’t quite right with it all. What I didn’t know then is not that he was wrong, but that his presentation of the Gospel was incomplete. It wasn’t until sometime around 1994 that I began to see what was missing (although I was far from getting past the trap of the “ticket to heaven” gospel.)

I was asked to teach a class to some teens in an inner city church. I had no idea what I was doing or what to even teach. So I just opened my Bible with the intent of rereading the New Testament until something jumped out. It didn’t take long. :)

I reached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and while I had read it before, I couldn’t remember hearing many sermons or a lessons on it. The ones I did remember I discuss below.

Here was Jesus on his “Galilee Tour” with huge crowds following wherever he went. He goes up onto a hill and sits down with his disciples and begins to teach.  And the things he teaches them are revolutionary for the times (actually, they are revolutionary today).

He starts with the beatitudes, you know the “blessed are the _____” statements. As I reread these, I had a bit of an epiphany. What I though I knew about these sayings was that because Jesus said them, we were to take on these postures. Like, if those who mourn are blessed, then we should mourn for our lost friends and family. Also, because of the last line in these Beatitudes, they became rules and regulations for, yep, once again, getting into heaven. But these things just weren’t quite right.

No, as I reread these and looked back over all the heartache and hard times I had suffered from childhood up to that very point, I realized he was talking to those already in some of these postures if not all. He was speaking to me. Then I thought of the tough times the young people I was about to begin teaching were having. We were all in the same boat and this was some good news for sure.

More than anything, this encounter with scripture made me realize that while salvation was of the greatest importance, the Gospel was bigger and more all encompassing than that. As I read the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, I could see that Jesus not only wanted us back into relationship with him and his Father for all eternity, he was giving us good news for right now! He was laying out a blueprint for redemption and atonement that could give us a glimpse of his Kingdom here.

Like I said before, it took at least the next 10 years for this to sink in. At one point I became very angry with those who had taught me before. I couldn’t understand why they would skip this when it was what I and many of those close to me desperately needed to hear. And even today, I am still figuring out how all of this works together.

There is so much more I could say but will save it for future posts. But I will close this post with this question: “How big is your Gospel”?

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