It's All Greek To Me

I have been with my head in the book the past week like no other time since I was in Graduate School. (seminary). I have a mid term in my New Testament Greek class. The exam will open for me to take online on Tuesday thru Wednesday of this week. I have until 11:00pm to complete and submit it to my professor. I am sure I will use as much study time as possible -(10:59pm).

It has been interesting, though. I have now worked through 21 chapters of NT Greek and I still feel clueless. I feel as though I have learned so much, and yet I feel as though I have not scratched the surface.

One thing is for sure. I am thrilled when I discover simple meaning in scripture I never knew before. Knowing what the original language said and how it was translated into English is amazing to say the least. Small words carry big punches.

For example: In Luke 4:6, the Devil takes the simple use of pronouns and becomes a "cosmic" used car salesman. He says to Jesus, "To You I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me and I will give it to whom I will. If You, then, will worship me, it shall be Yours."

In the original language, word order meant everything. It was used for emphasis. The Devil sweetens the deal by placing the pronoun "To You" at the beginning of the offer. In other words he was saying 'listen Jesus, this offer is just for You today only'.

Fortunately for you and me, Jesus did not let the Devil's abusive style of pronoun usage get the best of Him. I wish I could say I was smart enough to figure this grammer out on my own, but that's why we take classes and read books right? So off I go to study my Greek some more.

John

Why Celebrate Easter?

Here comes Peter Cottontail hoppin down the bunny trail.....

I suppose that celebrating Eater can come in a lot of different forms. I was recently suprised when I had a hit on one of my recent blog entries about Easter. At first, when I read the comment, I believed it might be a like-minded person wishing our church well as we prepared for our Easter services.

Actually, not so. The commenter asked me to visit his blog and make a comment. When I clicked, I was taken to an online store where I could purchase toy bunnies, Easter candies, and everything I thought Easter was when I was a kid.

I suppose I could have been offended, but I guess I realized that Easter is different for lot of different folks: Egg hunts, baskests, bonnetts, sunrise services, ham brunches, picnics, new pastel dresses, crowded Sunday services, musical productions.........

There are just as many ways that people celebrate Easter as there are ways that people celebrate Christmas. So which way is right?????

Well, as with many holidays in our culture, there is a Biblical heritage. However many ways Easter is thought of today, there is indeed only one true origin that eventually led to the manifold expressions that number in the hundreds if not thousands.

In a word: Jesus. It was Jesus who created a reason for our celebration of Easter in the first place. Even though we may say it was what He accomplished on the cross of Calvary that lead to Easter, in reality it was what took place three days later.

He defeated death and the grave - no victory - no sting. In other words, after He was killed on the cross, He was buried in a sealed tomb and left to rot. But three days later, He came back to life. He walked right out of that tomb. He walked around, talked to people, ate with people, and got around quite nicely for a person that was dead for three whole days.

If we leave it there, we could celebrate Easter as a day in history in which a really incredible miracle took place. But I believe the real reason to celebrate Easter is more than that.

I celebrate a risen Jesus who is MY LORD. He is MY SAVIOR. He is MY GOD. He died AND rose again for ME. When He was on the cross AND when He rose up from the grave and walked out of the tomb, He had ME on His mind.

Not the Easter Bunny. Not the Sunday-all-you-can-eat-ham and eggs-brunch-buffet. Not the sunrise services, or musical productions that take months to rehearse, or anything else, but YOU and ME.

Now then, the reason I can celebrate is because I have accepted the accomplishment of Easter as a gift for myself. And the only reason Jesus did what He did was because it was the only way I could get to Heaven. It had to be done. And He was the only one who could do it and He did it for me.

Now that's why I celebrate Easter!

Blessings,
John

Third Man To Walk On Water

There are only a few men who have ever accomplished the feat of walking on water. There are however many who have claimed this accomplishment, but aside from illussion or scam only three in history have ever pulled it off that we have evidence.

The first is of course Jeus. He was walking on the sea of Galilee one evening when His disciples rowed out to meet him.

Startled, the Disciples thought He must be a ghost and they were struck with fear. Until Jesus spoke to them and assured them it was Him and all was ok.

Jesus eventually invited Peter to join Him. Thus establishing the second man to ever walk on water. Peter came out of the boat reluctently and after a moment or two of unbelief began to sink until Jesus reached out to Him.

The third, was a man by the name of Jose. I have no doubt that Jose was also speaking the Name of Jesus as he was glancing across the water. See below, and Have a Blessed Day!

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Still Waiting.....

Have you ever felt that when you expect something to happen and talk about it as though it's a sure thing, it is as if the event holds itself off to spite you? I know, I know, goofy, right? Well. I feel like that right now.

I have fully expected to be sharing with you the date of my commissioning and the date of my swearing in ceremony weeks ago. But I suppose the old addage still holds true of the Army, "Hurry Up And Wait".

That's ok though, because I am back to the old drawing board on losing weight again. I have gained some of my weight back and I need to hit the gym again, and stop hitting the fridge to zap off some of what has faithfully returned.

One thing I have really learned about losing weight is that in spite of working out by going to "Spin-Class" twice a week, and running on the tread mill a couple of times a week, the amount of food I eat has more to do with weight loss than almost anything else I do.

I really believe it is more of an 80% to 20% issue for me. 80% of the weight I lose is due to eating less. Excercise has really done me good, and I feel great, but I still want to weigh less too. So here we go again.

I have learned this one thing. It is easier to lose the weight than it is to keep it off. Food is too much fun.

So here is the official word: "I am waiting on the Lord to reveal in His time, what He will allow me to do with regard to the Chaplaincy and the National Guard." How's that for patience, and 'not getting the cart before the horse' and 'putting my foot in my mouth' and all those other fine cliche's

-John

Easter!

Seems odd to be speaking of Easter so early in the year, but if you stop and think about it Easter is only six short weeks away. You may still be thinking, yeah so what, six weeks is a long time.

I agree, six weeks is a good chunck of time. It's a month and a half - it's a 42 days, and we have'nt even had the "time-change" so why should we be worried about Easter?

You have a good point, but here at the church, there is usually a pretty good amount of prep that goes into being ready for the biggest Worship Sunday of the year. Can I ask a couple of things from you, well, three to be exact:

1. Plan on coming to our Easter Service.

2. Plan on inviting someone to come with you.

3. Pray that it the biggest Sunday we have seen in years.

Our Worship team and others will be ready to help our church as we worship and celebrate the RISEN Jesus. The Christ. Pray that the music in the worship will be stellar, but above that that it will be the Truth in song.

Pastor Paul will be ready to divide the Word. Pray that as he stands in the shadow of the cross, that the Gospel message will be heard in great clarity and that people will make a decsion to follow the Risen Christ that very day.

Pray also that "details" will come together - details like sound-systems, computer systems, power points, microphones, and all the other logistics that most of us take for granted. Let's pray that EVERYTHING will work beautifully.

And then, we'll see you in six weeks - on Easter Sunday Morning - April 8th, 2007!


-John