Apprentice2Jesus

Ramblings of a Confessing Pentecostal

27 Jan 2012
2 Comments

Does It Get Old?

I love sports, and I LOVE the Kansas Jayhawks in basketball. On my bucket list is going to a game at Allen Fieldhouse once before I die. Just once. I was in there one time years ago. Roy Williams was in his first season. They had won the national championship the year before. A friend and I walked into the fieldhouse for a practice. We were promptly chased out. Didn’t matter. We looked at each other and said, “Was that cool or what?”

But a game… I would LOVE to get to a game.

Duke is another school passionate about the game. I’ve always equated Duke with crazy fans. This article seems to indicate it is just not the same anymore. Students aren’t filling up the student section any more. Top ten program. Fans aren’t coming. The author of the article speculates it’s because things get old. Chants are the same. Songs are the same. (Even winning is the same.) So… are fans bored?

The article sparked another thought in me: Do we get bored of the Kingdom of God?

Do we reach a point where we think: “Same songs. Same Bible. Same church (or series of churches).”

So… we… yaaaaawwwwwnnnn.

Does the Kingdom get old? If it does… why? And if it does… do we change up the routine? Or… hold on now, this may shock you… is it US?

Nawww… couldn’t be us. It MUST be the worship team… or the pastor… or the Bible… or…

You know what? For some reason, if we’re “bored”, or things so to have slipped into a rut, and we keep on looking… and searching… and not finding any solutions with outward stimulus… the answer just may be us.

WE may need to get right back into that Word… right back into that worship service… right back on our knees… and stay at it until we understand what may be wrong inside… not outside.

Just. A. Thought.

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; 
      reap faithful love; 
   break up your unplanted ground, 
      for it is time to seek the LORD, 
      that he may come 
      and rain righteousness upon you. (Hos. 10:12, CEB)

 

Posted in Common English Bible, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual hunger and tagged , , ,
27 Jan 2012

Demons and Authority

In Mark 1 there is the story of Jesus casting out the demon in the synagogue. While we focus on the power encounter, Mark focuses on the authority. Twice in the same story he mentions the authority of Jesus to teach.

22 The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts.

27 Everyone was shaken and questioned among themselves, “What’s this? A new teaching with authority! (Mark 1: 22,27, CEB)

When we walking in the authority of the Kingdom, the enemy recognizes it. Jesus never went hunting for a power encounter. Power encounters found him.

The apostles never went hunting for power encounters. So it is with us.

When we are walking in the authority of the Kingdom, our priority is Matt. 6:33. Whatever happens after that is something we are truly prepared for. We need not worry or fear. The tools have been given.

When the people of God show up and are walking in authority, just know that sometimes that means the spiritual waters stir. Don’t seek it out specifically. And don’t shy away from it when those waters stir.

Posted in Common English Bible, Holy Spirit, Prayer, Spiritual Formation and tagged , , | Leave a Comment
26 Jan 2012

Longing for Home

The end of Revelation is a picture of longing. Paradise is restored. The tree of life that was guarded in Genesis is now found in the city of God. From its leaves come healing for the nations.

It is home. These verses make me long for the home I know I have, yet have never visited.

Come, Lord Jesus.

1 Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, shining like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb 2 through the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life, which produces twelve crops of fruit, bearing its fruit each month. The tree’s leaves are for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more. They won’t need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will shine on them, and they will rule forever and always. (Rev. 22:1-5, CEB)

Posted in Common English Bible, Spiritual Formation and tagged , | Leave a Comment
26 Jan 2012
1 Comment

From Sorcerer to Magic Arts to Drug Users

The end of Revelation is one of my favorite places to camp. I honestly love the entire Book of Revelation if I can read through it without the voices in my head. (You know: Tim LaHaye, Jack VanImpe, Hal Lindsey, etc.)

In Rev. 22:15 I noticed different ways translations have tackled the Greek word pharmakos over the years. Last night I was reading the passage out of the Common English Bible, which is why I noticed.

In the ESV, which followed the King James, the word is “sorcerer.”

In the NIV it is “those who practice magic arts.”

In the CEB it is “the drug users and spell-casters.”

It is obviously a difficult word to translate, so newer translations are using phrases rather than trying to wrap it up in one word.

I think of the line out of the movie Super 8 where the kid is saying, “Drugs are bad. Very, very bad!” (You would have to know the scene for it to be funny, I guess.)

At any rate, yet another interesting phrase brought to you by the Common English Bible.

Posted in Bible Study, Bibles, Common English Bible, Translations and tagged , , , , ,
25 Jan 2012

Courage

 

An emotional farewell to a courageous lady.

Posted in People, Politics and tagged | Leave a Comment
25 Jan 2012
5 Comments

The Leading of the Spirit

12 At once the Spirit forced Jesus out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among the wild animals, and the angels took care of him. (Mark 1:12-13, CEB)

The Spirit did not lead very softly. The same Greek word for “force” is the same word used to talk about Jesus casting out demons.

We may not always understand that “force.” I have met many who do, and the stories they tell are amazing. When there is a compelling of the Spirit they know it.

One missionary I knew was under the direction of the Spirit to go to a village hostile to the gospel for several days. Every day he went they would physically harass him in some way. He would often come home bloody. The next day the Spirit would compel him to return to that village and stay at the task.

In so many ways we are just too soft in our culture. It is so hard to rise up and sense a compelling Spirit leading us into hard areas to go through something so necessary. Jesus was “forced” into a wilderness experience that empowered him for ministry.

Where are those areas in our own lives where the Spirit is truly compelling us… driving us… to move into a whole new realm of spiritual depth and insight?

Posted in Common English Bible, Holy Spirit, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual hunger and tagged , , ,
24 Jan 2012

My Favorite Thought on the Upcoming Super Bowl

Now that we will have that out of the way, it will then only be two weeks to spring training!

 

Posted in Baseball and tagged , , | Leave a Comment
24 Jan 2012
2 Comments

Our Faith Can Hold

The end of 2 Peter 1 is a powerful reminder of the faith delivered to us. The witness of those who carefully witnessed the glory of Christ, and those who came before who heard from God, stand in history as something to which we can anchor our faith. It is a powerful passage to reflect on!

16 We didn’t repeat crafty myths when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Quite the contrary, we witnessed his majesty with our own eyes. 17He received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came to him from the magnificent glory, saying, “This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 In addition, we have a most reliable prophetic word, and you would do well to pay attention to it, just as you would to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Most important, you must know that no prophecy of scripture represents the prophet’s own understanding of things, 21 because no prophecy ever came by human will. Instead, men and women led by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:16-21, CEB)

 

Posted in Common English Bible, Spiritual Formation and tagged ,
24 Jan 2012
4 Comments

James 2:1 in the CEB and the NRSV

I looked at James 2:1 in the Common English Bible and found it to be interesting because the phrase “deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ” was not in the NIV or ESV. Is the connotation there? If we are showing favoritism, are we denying the faithfulness of Christ?

My brothers and sisters, when you show favoritism you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been resurrected in glory. (CEB)

The NRSV puts the verse into a question and comes closer to what the CEB did:

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 

What IS clear in this verse is a believer can not hold faith in Christ AND favoritism at the same time. It is much like Jesus saying, “You can’t serve two masters.”

When that is the underlying statement, the CEB does make sense… while putting in a phrase that isn’t really there…

I will admit this is a place where I struggle with the dynamic equivalence idea of translation. However, I can see the point in drawing something out to make the underlying statement more clear. That is still part of the translation process.

 

Posted in Bible Study, Bibles, Common English Bible, Translations and tagged , , , ,
23 Jan 2012
6 Comments

Comparison of CEB on James 2:1

Here is James 2:1 in the CEB:

1 My brothers and sisters, when you show favoritism you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been resurrected in glory.

The NIV:

1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.

The ESV:

1 My brothers,[a] show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

The CEB’s addition of the phrase “you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ” sounds “right” in the context of the passage. However, is it CORRECT?

Any thoughts on this one?

Posted in Bibles, Common English Bible, Translations and tagged , , ,

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