Faith in the Fog

Reading Matthew 23 we find Jesus not exactly happy. I am used to meek and gentle Jesus who is kind to everyone. He might have a pithy comeback to a pharisee or a sadducee, but for the most part he is not talking about how condemned they all are. Or maybe that’s because it makes Jesus seem like a cult leader and most of us aren’t comfortable with Jesus condemning people to hell.

Jesus criticizes the way the Pharisees take oaths, the way that their hearts are darka nd they are greedy, he criticizes the way they dress, how they put such a burden on those they convert to the faith that they become more legalist and less loving than even the pharisees are which is pretty hard to believe.Jesusmuch everything about them he hammers. It is kind of like Rush Limbaugh hammering Obama or someone that opposes his political views.

In Matthew 23:33-36 33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

Here is Jesus bringing the wrath. But the next verse, is a totally different tune. Jesus contrasts his wrath with His love leaving some of his hearers confused. Jesus wants to gather up his people like a hen gathers her chicks. But his people, won’t listen and are condemned.

The pharisees had just enough religion to innoculate them from the relationship with their Heavenly Father.

Is that true about some of us in America. We have seen so much half hearted faith lived out and have been oversaturated with a lot of words and a lot of reliegion, that we have been innoculated to a soul saving relationship with our Heavenly Father through Christ?

Seriously, look at yourself…if you are a Christian, are you more excited about Jesus and following Him or is it just rhetoric and rules? Do you know for sure if you will escape condemnation?

Reading today in Matthew 22:1-14, So a King is having his son get married and he is pretty excited about it. He calls up all of the elite and gives them an invitation. At first, his subjects politely refuse, but then they end up killing some of the messengers. The King gets really angry about this, and starts inviting every body to the banquet. He invites the good and the bad. Weird. The king invited the good people and the bad people. They all got an equal shot at coming.

Once again, the Gospel is not about making bad people good…

So the party rolls around and the peeps are all there and they are dressed to the nines,. Then Jesus describes a random weird guy who is wearing jean shorts, flip flops, and an over sized Tommy Bahama shirt. The king walks over to him and is like hey buddy where are your wedding clothes?” The guy just stares at him, jaw dropping to the floor, and says nothing.

No excuses. This guy didn’t belong. He wasn’t chosen. The guy looked around and probably thought he was dressed like everyone else. But he never had been clothed with Christ. This guy was fakin the funk and the King could see right through him. He didn’t realize he was even at a wedding..

I think a lot of Christians are living like that. They have gotten enough Christianity to innoculate them from the real thing. Especially in Dallas.

Here you go to chruch, because that is what you do. But how many of us, when Jesus comes back will be wondering what’s going on and never get ready for the wedding of Christ to His church.

Ask yourself that question, Are you ready for the wedding? or is that concept ridiculous to you?

The answer will determine the state of your soul.

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 L came by today. She is out of Timberlawn and the hospital and I think for once sober. I went over to her apartment to see how she was. Her door was open and she was buried under blankets and bottles of Corona. Bleery eyed she awoke and was happy to see me. We hugged and I brought her over to my apartment to hang out.

L is defined by her surroundings. Her circumstances and false notions prevailing. Her brilliant mind and out-of-the-box perspective, give this woman, whose mother is a southern Baptist and father is Pentecostal, the exposure and knowledge that a lot of Christians are given at an early age. Condemnation escapes her, but what about God? Where does this biblical search for truth take place? For L, my wonderful friend, it is not a biblical search, but rather a search for what is really true. The intellect she has is clearly pushing her towards a deeper understanding of the truth. Questions such as did Jesus really exist-are not the problem. She knows he was real. But how could someone-God-inspire so many men to write all of this information, and accurately at that? She is fascinated by Job, and the suffering he went through, just to simply prove his love and devotion to God.

Sitting in my living room at my apartment, I think about this young woman, and what is running through her mind. T, my new friend whom I brought home with me from Florida, is reading from the Bible. He came to live with me after we spontaneously met at the Spring Break 2009 Beach Reach in Panama City. He was struggling and needed help. God used a bunch of us in PCB to give him a little nudge out of the water. In the week that he has been here, he has already done the bar scene, brought the California girl home, taken things that weren’t his, nearly OD’d on Oxy cotton and somehow managed to land a job playing the piano for a cigar club in Downtown Dallas. Although he is a brilliant pianist, this man, this 23 year old kid, has so much to learn, and I can see him going through growing pains. He is propped up in the black leather chair across from me as we, along with some friends, listen to L talk about her thoughts and struggles. He opens up, and finally hears. Grabbing a Bible he reads from Ecclesiastes 7. He does the classic randomly open the bible ove and see what God has for e technique. L listens. His past gives him the opportunity to relate to her. I have already described her to you my friends, but this is new side to L. I can’t connect with her like T is connecting with her at this moment. She is sober and thinking-formulating thoughts that I can understand. His voice has power, perspective. She heard him.

Prayer. Continue to pray for my friend L, and my new friend T. Pray for revelation and understanding. I looked into her eyes this afternoon, in the midst of her and T’ banter, and saw a light that I have not seen in a long time. Her words weren’t slurred and her speech was normal. Today she heard- pray that she will listen and pray that we have more days like this where we are able to continue sharing the love and hope of God’s grace!

Pete Briscoe was amazing and the students at SMU were fired up to change the world for Christ. Pete’s message was particularly moving as he talked about our need to share the hope that we have.

He preached from Mark 11 and the story of Jesus and Him overturning the temple money changers. Jesus quoted Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7 which Briscoe brought forward to the attention of SMU.

This temple was to be a house of prayer for the nations. The eunich, the gentiles, those who were not allowed into the temple would be welcomed. Jesus was ushering in that day.

Jeremiah 7 calls out the Jews for their immorality. They had run to the temple and called it their safe place while they indulged in sin. Jesus compared that time to His contemporary time and called them to the carpet for their sin and separating the world from God by their hypocrisy!

Amazing.

Can’t wait to see the impact of this amazing ministry!

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Just went and visited L at a suicide watch place. She still needs lots of prayer. She overdosed on sleeping pills Sunday afternoon. The police had been called when L had not answered phone calls. They went in and tried to revive her with smelling salts, but she wouldn’t come out of her stupor. The took her to Baylor hospital and then to the detox place. I am going by tonight to give her my books, Faith in the Fog of War Volumes I and II.

While visiting her I noticed a dramatic improvement in her overall wellbeing. She is doing better and the brightness of her eyes returned as for the first time in months she wasn’t intoxicated.

Warren and I prayed with her in Jesus name which she doesn’t mind and I asked God to open her eyes to His love while she has been apathetic about since I have known her.

Please continue to pray with us for her salvation.

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Pray for L

I need your help. My next door neighbor is L. She needs Jesus. Here is a brief description of her. She has 15 facial piercings and eight large tattoos including a sleeve tat. She is a pagan and whenever she wants to be religious, she will set up incense and worship in a wiccan way although she despises being labeled wiccan. She prefers no label. However, she has been in a drunken stupor for the past year and a half of me knowing her. As a pagan, she tells me she has no need for Jesus. Her worship of her pagan god is just as good as my worship of the Trinity. Last night she came over and asked if my roommate and I would help her load her gun.

Don’t worry, we didn’t help her do that.

We did talk about Jesus for an hour. She has come over several times in the middle of the night, sometimes with her boyfriend, sometimes alone in tears. Warren and I have shared Christ with her over and over again, but it seems that we are hitting a brick wall. Warren even broke out the evangecube.

 Her greatest quest is to find a man who will love her. She wants to be alcohol free, but she doesn’t want to at the same time. You know how that goes. Sometimes my prayer is “God, I want to want to do the right thing.” I love Psalm 86:11. “Teach me your way, Oh Lord, and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.” Notice the actor in these verbs is God. I want Him to take me over!The only way to break down that wall for a woman consumed by alcohol and false religion is prayer. Will you join me? Are you willing to watch God work?

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