Thoughts On Headship

"It is like the precious oil upon the head , running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garment." Psalm 133:2

Ever since the dawn of creation God has set in order how things work best in life. Part of this program is the idea of headship. Certain people are placed in status over other people. Pastors are men who run local churches. We get a lot from the flow of ministry that we get from our pastors. Our text tells us how the Holy Spirit flows down from the head to the edges of the garment of the high priest. This is the oil.

This headship is also how marriages and families thrive. Adam was formed first, then Eve. She was to serve him and complete him. She wants to be in charge, but it only works when we do it God's way.

"But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." 1Cor.11:3

We run into big problems when we criticize or challenge or ignore headship. We cut ourselves off from all the God wants to do in and through and for us. 

"Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God." Col. 2:18-19

In fact, God works against those who rebel against His headship.

"...why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow..." Num.12:8b-10a

Miriam rebelled against God and against Moses and she paid the price for her rebellion for 7 days.

It was Eve that the serpent targeted, not Adam. Take heed my sisters. 

Debunking Fake Science

 I read an interesting article today. It's not Biblical or spiritual. But in the world we live in I found it useful anyway.

1. We have more than 5 senses. Christians should know this. We are spiritual beings living in a physical body. But science tells us that we have 20 or more senses that we all use every day.

2. Who says that you cannot go swimming right after a meal? Swimmers often eat right before a meet. Our bodies are balanced so that we can function in life easily. Our bodies work perfectly.

3. Someone told us that we only use 10% of our brains. In fact we use 100% of our brain all the time. Even when we sleep. Our brain is always on and always working.

4. Do camels really store water in their humps. No. They are uniquely suited to living in a harsh environment. Their humps are full of fat that provides them with energy. Not water.

5. In spite of Yogi Bear or Winnie the Pooh, bears do not love honey. They eat the bees or the bee larva for protein. They get honey, but it is not what they are searching for.

6. Bats are not blind. They have good eyesight. They also have built in sonar to hunt at night. God made even bats so that they thrive in their environment.

Old wives fable are not given to us by old women. Often science tells us things that are not true. Even Aristotle got it wrong a lot of the time.

Pastor Greg In Town

 We have pastor Greg for men's discipleship tonight. It will be nice to see him again. It is a blessing that he is able to come here to minister to the guys in this area.

The Great White Throne

 "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them." Rev.20:11

Sometimes, doing a word study opens up new realms of revelation into what is written. In this case it did not. This great white throne is just a huge gleaming white throne. It is a megas leukos thronos in the original language. Scholars try to make significance of it's size or it's color. To me the bigger more important issue is who is sitting on this throne from whose face the natural world flees.

Some scholars think that it is Christ who sits in judgement. The context does not tell us. It just says Him. Christ plays a part in end time judgements for sure. He leads the army of heaven against the beast in chapter 19. Personally I think that the Him who sits on the great white throne is God the Father. Verse 12 says the dead stand before God and are judged.

This is where it gets too hard for us to understand. God the Father and God the Son are equal and one. And yet for arguments sake they are separated in roles as judges in Revelation.

Anyway, the best that we can do is serve the Lord now and let God sort it out in eternity.

The Chosen Series: Not A Fan

We watched a scene from the Chosen series tonight in church. To be honest, I am not a fan of the Chosen series. For me it's like reading an extrabiblical book. Some of it is direct quotes, while most of it is made up. I have never once in all of my years of Bible reading wished that I could flesh out the story. It is good enough for me to understand what the author wrote and to know just enough background to make it all make sense.

So while some people love watching the Chosen series, you can count me out of that group.

A Risen Savior

 Some Christian churches do communion every Sunday. Many churches in our Fellowship do communion on Easter Sunday morning. We don't. We will have a communion service on April 19, a Sunday night,  after Easter.  I heard that it is because we do not want to get too religious. Jesus simply said that as often as you do this do it in remembrance of me. The day is not nearly as important as the remembering.

Because we believe in a risen savior all the time we do not wait until Easter Sunday to celebrate. Every time we assemble we celebrate a risen savior. We believe that He gathers with us every service. That is the difference between a religious person and a born again believer. Religious people rely on external stimulus like days and dates. We worship a risen savior who is alive today and who helps us in our hour of need.

Three Days And Three Nights.

 "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Mat.12:40

If Jesus had said three day it would have made our calendar work. Crucified on Friday, raised on Sunday. Three days. But when he added the three nights into the equation it made the time not work for me. To be crucified on Friday, spend three days and nights, he would have had to be raised on Monday morning. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with Friday night Saturday night and Sunday night. Three plus three.

"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." Jon. 1:17

So Jesus quoted Jonah correctly. Why then do we get it so wrong? For me, the fact that Christ rose from the dead is enough. 

So we celebrate Jesus' birth on the wrong day and we get the time in the grave wrong too. Could this be an attempt to discredit the reality of Christ by altering key events?