“go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

The last recorded instructions

the last words

Last words are important.  They are something that stick with us, that we hold on to after a persons death.  Jesus said these words to his core eleven after his resurrection.  Thats a trip in it’s self.  The rabbi of these eleven men dies then he comes back to life and gives them all the above final instructions (hint: Important instructions).  He says to them, “make disciples”.  Jesus is saying to be like ME!  Be teachers of all that I have taught you, and don’t limit yourself to the local Jews alone, take it to the nations (all people of all religions).  That makes me think that this is one of the reasons Jesus brought them to a mountain top.  I visualize Him pointing in every direction building up a drive in their hearts for adventure.

Now I believe that this is a call for all of us.  I also believe there is a difference between discipling and planting seeds.  I think its awesome to take advantage of all opportunities, be it leaving a track on the doctors office magazine table or telling Sally Stranger that you’ll pray for her today but I don’t think that is the complete version of what Jesus had in mind when he says to, “make disciples”.  I think that requires a deeper relationship.  A one on one dedicated Rabbi to his people fellowship relationship.  A cycle that eventually produces more and more committed disciples.

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV)
By definition a yoke is, “a wooden bar or frame by which two draft animals (as oxen) are joined at the heads or necks for working together”.  So a yoke is basically used to join or unite.  So to be “yoked” is to be united.  The yoke being a tool of the field, the author Paul is also showing that there is a job to be completed.

“For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?  Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”  Two polar opposites.  The Ox was the primary draft animal of its time to make use of a yoke.  Wikipedia states that, “An ox is nothing more than a mature bovine with an “education.” The education consists of the animal’s learning to respond appropriately to the teamsters (ox driver’s) signals.”  Uniting Light and darkness would be like yoking a normal untrained dairy cow together with an ox and trying to plow a field.  Unproductive, slow and maybe even impossible

So, is Paul telling the church that they should completely ostracize themselves from people that do not except Christ.  I don’t think so, that would be impossible and crazy.  How would we reach the ends of the earth with the gospel if we’re not to associate ourselves with those we are trying to bring the good news to?  Then should we acquaint ourselves but not befriend them?  I don’t think that’s what this “yoke” means either.  Jesus befriended sinners and unbelievers.  So where is the line between friendship with unbelievers and a united yoke between believers?  Jesus had an inner circle and together they were training.  Like in Acts 2:44 they had everything in common and I think that “everything” was just one thing, Jesus.

So if Jesus is our everything in common and making disciples of all the nations is our goal can we surround/team ourselves with people of opposing interests and expect to complete the race ahead of us?

“So, because you are luke-warm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Revelation 3:16

Jesus is talking about the church in the city of Laodicea (the wealthiest of the seven described in the beginning of the book of Revelation).

A known problem with this city was its water supply… I guess it was messed up?  So they had an aqueduct constructed to bring in water from a hot spring.  The problem with this is as you can imagine by the time water reached the city it was luke-warm.  Thats nasty!  No ice either… How refreshing. Visitors that were unaccustomed to the water would spit the stuff out.

Nearby the city of Hierapolis also drawing water from a hot spring was famous for its hot hot hot

water and the city of Colosse was known for it cold mountain stream water.

So Jesus uses the cities water problem to descible a much larger problem with its church.  The church did not openly rejected Christ but neither did it show any spiritual zeal.  The church was lukewarm.  So Jesus gets on a topic that they can clearly relate with to describe how he feels.  ” I am about to spit you out of my mouth”, he is so sick of their one foot in one foot out approach that like their tepid water he is about to spit them up.

What do you think it means to be spit up?  Is it to be Removed?  Given up on?  Or is it not that harsh?

I know for a fact Ive been luke-warm, i’m sure to the equivalent of the church in  Laodicea.   So does that mean persistence in that stagnancy would lead to being spit up?

-Aaron

I got the day off from work today and I dontknow what to do!  Ill make a list and maybe someone can chime in and help me with my decision.

Wash some clothes

Hang out with my mom

Read a new book (velvet Elvis)

Go buy a new cd (mutemath sounds like a good choice If I cad the money to blow)

Find some friends and take them out to lunch

Go work on the crazy cool haunted house that’s going up for the youth party Sat night

Smash some pumpkins

Read my Bible

Paint a picture

Line things out for my part of the tech team conf early Sat morning

Paint my house

Buy a new pair of pants

Thrift store it up!  Been almost a year…

Ride my bike

Find some old ladies and help them across the street

Anything but sitting in front of this computer screen!!!! 

 

Call me or somthing

 

-Aaron

Do you ever have one of those nights when your body wants nothing better than to jump into bed but your mind just won’t let it?   Maybe this blog entry will help the process…

Many new thoughts have flown through this head of mine since my last entry.  I’ve been to Mars Hill again and this time got to see Rob Bell speak.  It was incredible!  I felt the Lord moving in a way that I hadn’t felt in a while. 

Thought #1  I love that church.

Melissa and I are flying to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon to visit her youth pastor and his very pregnant wife (twin girls due any minute).  I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.  These are the people that God used to draw the heart of a close friend that I treasure.  This friend is one of the most honest, gentle, loving people I’ve ever met.  So as you can imagine I’m thrilled to get a chance to meet her spiritual mentors.

Thought #2   I’m blessed to have her as the friend she is

Thought #3     I’m excited to meet the people that God used to help tailor her into the woman she is now.

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.� Ephesians 5:19-20

Thought #4     This verse makes me smile inside.  I can’t read it and not want to belt out a tune.  It makes me look at everything with new light. 

 

Good Night!

-Aaron

Just this last week I was in Grand Rapids Michigan to visit a special friend and had a chance to attend Mars Hill church.  This is the home church that author and nooma video producer Rob Bell pastors.

 

http://www.mhbcmi.org/listen/index.php

 

What a cool experience!  This church in single handedly changing the way “church� is being done in Grand Rapids and surrounding areas.  Rob was still on tour so I didn’t get to hear him but the service was still unique and powerful.

 

This place was not at all what I had expected it to be.  Even the outside of the building was plain.  No glitz and glamour, not even a large road sign to address its location.  It was just an old gutted outlet mall.  I had even expected it to be a little bigger that it was.  If I had not known any better and lived in that area I would have probably driven by it day after day and never had a clue. 

 

Walking in was also a shock.  I’ve check out some “mega� churches before and because of the attendance Mars has it may also be defined as one.  But Mars had something that all those others didn’t.  It felt comfortable.  It felt real and unmanufactured.  It wasn’t a production by any mean.  I’m a geeky sound guy so by habit the sound equipment and acoustics are always one of the first things I scope out.  But even Mars wasn’t “top notch� they had some cool stuff but nothing extravagant or unnecessary.  The sound was good but not perfect the lights were all white and none moved and changed color trying to enhance your worship experience/emotions.  Even the projected words on the screen in the center of the room were plain, no fancy backgrounds just black song lyrics on a white screen. 

 

Now I’m not at all saying that having all these things are bad.  They aren’t!  I love a good slam you down make you cry in your face worship service just as much as anyone.  Sound, lights, elaborate staging… are all perfectly nice tools to a structured professional worship service.  On the extreme flip side I also think these things can get in the way of the Spirit and manufacture emotion for some people.

 

Mars Hill just seems to be doing some serious out of the box thinking by writing a new/waking up on old definition for church community.  And it works.

 

Interesting food for thought that I keep running into.

“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

NIV Life application bible commentary:

“We tend to think that doing wrong is sin.  But James tells us that sin is also not doing right.  (these two kinds of sin are sometimes called sins of commission and sins of omission.)  It is a sin to lie; it can also be a sin to know the truth and not tell it.  It is a sin to speak evil of someone; it is also a sin to avoid him or her when you know ke or she needs your friendship.  We should be willing to help as the Holy Spirit guides us.  If God has directed you to do a kind act, to render a service or to restore a relationship, do it.  You will experiance a renewed and refreshed vitality to your Christian faith.”

I dig this.  Too often in my life I feel this conviction when I know i should have talked to that person or said somthing in that conversation but kept silent anyways.  The same exact feeling of conviction I’ve felt after being dishonest with my folks about any given situation.  Both of these sin both bad news. 

 I know this verse represent much more than just speaking and not speaking but thats what i struggle with more often than not.

  But in Proverbs you can find more that one instance where silence equals wisdom.  Maybe Ecclesiastes 3:7 is clearing that up in saying that their are seasons.  “a time to be quiet and a time to speak’.  Like we should speak when we feel the Spirit moving us to but if there is no movement we should reevaluate our motives and pray about it?

Im probably wayyyyy off… Any ideas?

I was just thinking this afternoon about Adam, Eve and the garden of Eden and what would have had to have gone through their minds after they suddenly knew what evil looked like (Genesis 3:22).  Before their big sin they knew no evil.  Just that thought alone left me struck for a few moments.  Think about it.  Immoral behavior wasn’t even in the back of their minds.  !Drama free!  They lived in a world of paradise not only physically but mentally. They walked daily along side God and actually got to look him face to face! 

 

Then in a split second all that is tarnished with a sinful nature… They can’t even look at one another without shame anymore.  That would have to be the worst day anyone has experienced in history.

 

Now what gets me is how some see this world as it is now as the end… the best of the best… when it’s over here there is nothing better.  That stinks from time to time I see this place as sort of a drag.  But check it.  The encouraging thing that makes my day is the fact that as soon as my time is up here on Earth that sinful nature doesn’t come with me.  Yeah, heaven will be visually stimulating and all but to also be relieved of that burden of knowing what evil is.  That’s sweet.  You could walk up to me in heaven ask me the definition of evil and I wouldn’t even know how to spell the word!!  I love it.    

 

-Aaron

 

 

Hello world of Voxtropolis!  First post here and brand new to this place.  Im in the process of ending my stay with myspace due to its dirty content.  Not that I didn’t dig the layout and how easy it was to get around on that site but man oh man.  Those ads and the content allowed on some peoples pages is just nasty and id rather not be a part of it any more or let anyone else have to step through those things to read my personal page.  So here I am!  This place looks clean and fresh and feels good.  I hope to have a good stay here and possibly some good heart to heart conversation.  I’ll post some good stuff soon.

-Aaron