Worship Service THIS Sunday 7/2

The first worship service for The Foundation ministry is going to be this Sunday 7/2 @ 1:30. The location will be in the gym at Aldersgate Church. The building is just to the left of the main sanctuary. Aldersgate is located on 74 between Ingles and Taco Bell.

This service will be a little change of pace from other worship services you have been to, so invite a friend and come check it out. I hear tell that there will be a Lattimore Cops video as well as food being served. Aaron Simmons will be leading the band and Justin Webb will bring the Word so I'm expecting great things. If you have any questions about the service or how to get there email us at thecorefoundation@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

We'll see ya on Sunday!!

Lessons Learned from Ananias

This evening while I was reading my Bible, I came upon an interesting and sometimes puzzling or even frightening passage of scripture dealing with an instance of sudden death and divine judgment in the early church on which I thought I could write a brief blog. The passage is Acts 5:1-11. Basically what happens is that when people are making offerings to the church, a married couple, Ananias and Sapphira, sell a piece of land. Ananias keeps back part of the money for himself and then brings the rest of the money to the apostles as an offering and tells them it was the full price he got for the field. Somehow knowing that Ananias is lying, Peter confronts him about it, Ananias then dies instantly, and later his wife comes in and the same happens to her.
After reading this I had several questions: Were these two members of the church since they were bringing money as an offering? Were they saved then? Do their actions reveal that they were not saved? Did they go to hell when they died instantly? Why did they die instantly for this one sin?
I assume that they were wealthy because they owned a field they could sell. Perhaps Ananias wanted to impress other members of the church by giving money, but at the same time did not really want to let go of his money and thus, kept back a portion for himself. Peter’s speech to him seems to reveal the inward disposition of Ananias’ heart. Peter says, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
The lesson for us may be revealed in examining this statement. Saying that Satan has filled one’s heart is pretty powerful. Satan is the ultimate deceiver. Perhaps Ananias was deceived into thinking he could have it both ways. He could indulge his own selfish desires and appear externally as one living for God. Maybe he thought he could fool God, or had possibly talked himself into thinking that what he was doing was not wrong.
God is concerned about our little inner world that only he and we know about, our thoughts, motives, and priorities, as much, or more than external aspects of life. If nothing else, this passage certainly gives us incentive to always be honest with God in our hearts and to examine the condition of our heart and our motives to be sure we are not living selfishly or to impress others while attempting to portray the hypocritical appearance of one who serves God. What do you think?

Don't Scramble Your Yokes

I want to look briefly at the famous verse used by all of our grandmothers to warn us about dating or marrying non-christians. Well maybe your grandmother didn't tell you this verse and come to think of it, I don't think mine did either but I'm sure you've heard it said;

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?"

This is a verse from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians and I think this verse has some major implications, but I do think many have misunderstood this verse and taken it out of context to meet their own personal agendas and beliefs. That's why you may have also heard a hellfire and brimestone fundamentalist Christian use this verse to support his claim that we should not hang out with non-christians, go to party, celebrate Halloween, or sit in a sport's bar and watch a football game. So does this verse mean, we shouldn't even share our scrambled eggs at breakfast with a non-christian in fear of our yokes gettting mixed together? Maybe, in a different kind of way, let me explain.

Let's talk about yokes. It might help to know what a yoke is, and no its not the kind that comes from an egg. To know about yokes we have to know about Rabbis. In Jesus' day there were rabbi's everywhere, in fact Jesus' diciples called him rabbi or "teacher." A rabbi was basically an interpreter. His role was to study, meditate and make interpretations on what it meant to live out the Torah or the first 5 books of the Old Testament. So rabbis went around teaching their interpretations of the scripture, which were basically sets of rules or lists on what was permitted and what was forbade for a faithful Jew. Different rabbis had different interpretations for what it meant to obey the Law; one example being the command to keep the Sabbath day holy. That's why we see Jesus' interpretation of the Sabbath command in Matthew 12, and various other times when Jesus says "You have heard it said...but I tell you..." Now these sets of rules and lists which were basically the rabbi's interpretation of how to live out the Torah as a faithful Jew, were called that rabbi's yoke. So if you were a disciple of a rabbi then you were following him because you believed that rabbi's interpretations were the closest to what God originally intended in the Sciptures. So whenever you followed a rabbi, it was said that you were taking up that rabbi's yoke. *

So don't quit on me now, we are gettin to the good stuff. Lets take our knowledge of yokes now and apply it to our feature verse in 2 Corinithians 6:14. "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers." What do you think Paul meant by this verse? I think it means that we shouldn't be yoked to an unbeliever like a disciple is to a rabbi. Or in other words, our core beliefs and interpretations on how to live life shouldn't be the same as a non-christian. Now can this happen if we celebrate halloween, hangout with unbelievers at parties, and go to sports bars? Maybe, but only if we fall into the ways of this world and take up another person's yoke. This verse doesn't mean that we shouldn't eat supper with our Atheist buddy, it just means that our beliefs shouldn't be influenced and changed to be the same as our Atheist buddy. This might make it hard to marry a non-christian who has a different yoke than you, especially since marriage means you become "one" with that person and your eggs are now in the same basket. Makes sense right. Good. Your Granny was right afterall. So don't be scramblin your yokes with other homies yo! Take up the yoke of the only rabbi who had it right, Jesus!

* Credit to Rob Bell's book, Velvet Elvis. Check this book out for a detailed explanation of a rabbi's yoke.

More Alaska and Book Reviews

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The two middle pictures are from an aerial flight we did up aroud Denali and are shots out of the airplane looking down at the glaciers. This glacier in the 3rd picture is a ridiculous 2 miles wide and 3000 feet deep in places. Crazy huh. Thats like God big, only He could make something so awesome I have to say. If you ever get the chance, go to Alaska. Hey I have an idea, we could all just go on a mission trip there!

Book Reviews:

While I was in Alaska I read two books which I both recommend.

Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell. This is Rob's first book. He is pastor of Mars Hill Church in Michigan which is one of the fastest growing churches in history. I had the privilege to hear him speak at a conference and man he was great. In this book he speaks a lot on the Jewish culture and how it shaped the gospels. He gives his interpretation of what the life of a Christ follower should look like and presents some real challenging, fresh, and new ideas on living like Jesus.

Revolution by George Barna. George is the head guy for the Barna Research Group which does all kind of polls on Christianity and our culture. You've probably heard the Barna polls quoted on CNN or FoxNews anytime Christians and statistics are mentioned. In this book he analyzes what Christianity is looking like in America and how it is changing. He calls this new change a Revolution which could be unlike any other movement in the last couple centuries. He wrote a book similar to this one in 1996 and predicted the way things would be 10 year later, which would be now, and he was 90% correct. In this book he predicts what the American churches are going to look like in about 20 years. Wanna be a Revolutionary? Check it out.

Denali Wilderness

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Well being the high-tech redneck that I am, I have managed to find a way to blog from the Alaskan Wilderness of all places. The photo above is a shot I took on top of a mountain looking towards Denali or Mt. McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America. We did a bus tour of Denali Park and on my way back I got the wild hair to hop off the bus and go climb a mountain by myself. Being an Eagle Scout I knew that it was stupid to go alone because I would pretty much be dead if I made a mistake because no one was around, but I thought, "heck I'll only be here once," so I went on in spite of being alone and spotting a Grizzly Bear less than a mile away. So I took off up the mountain which I thought wasn't going to be too hard to climb, and shortly after my ascent I realized I was very wrong. I would walk 20 steps and lay down because of how steep the hill was. At several points I climbed on my hands and knees. Once I made it to the peak of this mountain the view of Denali was incredible. And as a I sat on top, all I could think about was the majesty and glory of our God who created the mountain sitting before me. There is something about being on top of a mountain that brings you closer to God and into His presence (Moses is a biblical example), or atleast I sure feel that way. I also had this thought; we often feel like we are going through life alone, that our prayers are hitting the ceiling, that God has abandoned us and is no where to be found. When those thoughts cross our mind all we need do is take a moment and look around at nature to see God's hand. Evidence of God is all around us, we just need to open our eyes and clear our minds from the daily mundane. One need not think of the future when it comes to heaven, heaven is on earth right now. God's kingdom can be found in the here and now. As a Christian, NOW is the day of salvation and eternal life. A little piece of heaven can be found when we are in the presence of God whether it be on top of a mountain in Alaska or sitting in our office chair. That's why Jesus would have us to pray for God's kingdom to "come here on earth as it is in heaven." We don't have to wait until we are dead to experience heaven, we can see it here on earth if we just take our blinders off and see the hand of God among us!




More Pictures from Alaska to come!!

Leftover Grudges

With a repetitive screeching beep my alarm clock sounded letting me know that 6:00 AM had arrived this past Monday morning. Once again the joyous monotony of leaving my warm bed for a 10-hour work day was beginning. I sat up with a scowl on my face and put my feet down on the wrong side of the bed, so to speak. I had woken up mad, basically for no good reason. As I stumbled into the bathroom and inspected the haggard look on my face in the mirror, I begin to think of new things to be mad about. Moments later while in the shower, my mind drifted back to arguably the worst three years of my life, middle school. In the seventh grade, in Mrs. Cabaniss’ class, one kid used to pick on me ritually, making each new day a torturous experience. One day he came up behind me while we were waiting for the bell to ring and just punched me in the kidney’s as hard as he could. That blow prevented me from being able to sleep any that night because of the internal pain it caused. I started thinking while rinsing the scuds off, “He wasn’t that much bigger than me, I should have turned around and just broke his nose. I bet he would have peed his pants. No one ever would have expected the little skinny kid with glasses to have done something like that; I would have been suspended, but the whole middle school would have talked about it!”
Luckily such folly and futile thoughts left my mind as I grew more awake. However, something strange happened that afternoon at our softball scrimmage. The other team did not have quite enough people to play and had to pick up a couple extra players who just happened to be at the field. One of the guys they picked up to play with them was that kid who hit me in the kidneys. I probably hadn’t seen him in five years. With my eyes fixed on him as he stood next to home plate, I felt God ask me, “Do you still want to break his nose?” I answered in my thoughts, “No I would rather love him like you do.” I felt Him reply back, “Alright then.”
Unfortunately, I did not talk to that guy much the rest of that day. I should have. Before writing this blog though, it occurred to me that many of us probably have untold grudges in the backs of our minds that need to be dealt with. The debts need to be mentally canceled. While reading my bible today I realized that John the Baptist was killed because some woman held a grudge in Mark 6:17-29. Jesus himself said that what comes out of us from within such as evil thoughts, malice, and folly are what make us unclean in God’s sight in Mark 7:20-23. Check it out.

Foundation Update

For those of yall who didn't make it to the Cookout here is some new information about what is going on as of now:

HangOUT @ Steve's- New Night, New Time. The hangout has been changed to Wednesday nights at 8PM. So every Wednesday this summer we'll see you for a great time of fellowship, scripture discussion, board games and hanging out together. If you need directions, just let us know and we'll get them to ya.


First Worship Service- Our first woship service as The Foundation will be held on JULY 2nd @ 1:30 in the Aldersgate church gym. This should be an awesome service for you to bring friends to so be thinking about it now and get the word out. More information on the service later.


For those of you missing out on the Monday Munchies and Theological Tuesdays, we are sorry for the low number of posts. Things have been hectic so far this summer, but we are working on getting the posts back up more frequently, so keep checking the site for new blogs. Our apologies.

And for our readers in Australia, thanks so much for your continual visits, I hope this blog can be a blessing to you as you have also been to us.

Kickoff Party Finished

Thanks to everyone who made it out today to the kickoff party over at Aaron's. Ole Tyler threw down on some hamburgers and hotdogs and him being able to bring the grill was a big help. Also special thanks to the Simmon's family for allowing us to use their house and pool. I hope everyone enjoyed the shin-dig and we'll be doing it again soon, so keep checking the site and your email. If you want to be added to the email list, let me know.

We'll see everyone this Wednesday for the HangOUT. I'll try and post up everything that was on the information cards within the next couple days, as well as directions to the house we meet in.


If you have any questions, just leave comments and we'll get back to you. Thanks

The Onion

Is this really how people view Christians? I remember not wanting to be bothered by "radical" Christians at college but do people really hate being invited to church this much? Check out this fake news article from The Onion. If you like to read fake news or want to see how secular culture views Christianity, The Onion has some pretty ridiculous stuff concerning Christianity and is a sure read to make you aggrivated and want to change the way people misunderstand what being a Christ-follower is all about.

Foundation Kickoff Party

There is gonna be a huge cookout/ pool party this Saturday @ Aaron's house, to officially kickoff the Foundation Ministry and get the summer started in style. So if you want to come, please do and if you need directions call me or you can email me from a link on the side of the page. We are gonna have burgers and hotdogs with all the fixins, so bring your trunks, yourself, and somebody else and we'll see yall there on Saturday at 5:00.

We are still meeting on Thursdays at 7:30 each week for what we are calling HangOUT @ Steve's. We meet in an empty house across from DSBC and have a short Scripture Discussion led by J Webb and then we usually eat something and play some Cranium. So anyone and everyone is invited to that as well. Let me know if you have any questions.

Spoon

Job's Whine is Our Victory Cry

The book of Job is rich in theology, and it wrestles with difficult issues like the existence of evil and the question of “why do bad things happen to good people?” I have been reading in Job lately and have been amazed at what God has shown me personally, but I ran into some intriguing verses a few days ago that I feel I must write a blog about. Job, though a blameless man, is meet with undue hardships and evil happenings sent his way until he is absolutely crushed in spirit and wants answers of why God has let these things happen to him. In 9:32-35 Job is speaking about God and he says, “He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him but as it now stands with me, I cannot” (NIV). My immediate thought when I read the lines “If only there were someone to arbitrate between us” was one soothing word, “Jesus.” Though it is hard to estimate when the book of Job was written, one can easily and confidently see that it was penned before the time of Christ. Simply put, Christ is our answer to Job’s needy complaint. As Christians we do indeed have someone to arbitrate between us and God, Jesus, the God-Man. Jesus, being both fully God and fully Man fulfills our every need and is our link and bridge to a Holy,
Sovereign, and Almighty God. Job says he cannot speak up without fear, but Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:12, when speaking about Christ, “In him and through faith in we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Again, the author of Hebrews explains that Jesus is the best arbitrator or mediator we could ever ask for. For in him we can relate to God, and through him, God has once-and-for-all related to us, reaching down to us by his Son. Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Jesus knows what life is all about. He knows when life really stinks and what we are feeling. Jesus knows what it means to be crushed and because of that we can know that God does not waste a hurt in our lives or leave it unnoticed. Yet, on the other hand, in the moments of extreme excitement and jubilee we can also place a conscious awareness on the fact that we are able to perpetually approach God with confidence because of the finished work of Christ.

Monday Munchies: Food for Thought...the Da Vinci Code

So it’s come to my attention that there is this new movie out called “the Da Vinci Code”. Now thanks to the history channel and discovery channel, I think I might be approaching the opinion that I’m an expert on the subject…a dangerous thought indeed. I thought I’d write on it because if anything is causing people to think about religion, this movie is.

While I was on vacation, I noticed that the Catholic Church had bought a page add in the sports section encouraging Christians not to see this movie. That seemed a little extreme to me. Let me break it down on the theology of this movie just in case there is anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about. The movie is actually about this dude who is solving this mystery that the church has tried to cover up and several people are trying to kill each other and no body knows who’s a good guy and who’s a bad guy. The mystery however, is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and she bore his child, which was the real “Holy Grail”. Now some people have actually started saying that they believe this. I’ll go ahead and say it in writing. The book is fiction, the movie is fiction, and it is made up. Now that I’ve stated that, we’ll get to playing with the idea.

There seems to be a lot of evidence that points to a cover up involving Mary Magdalene possibly bearing the child of Christ. This all occurs in the Catholic Church of course so I think the mystery should begin to be solved there. The Catholic Church is part of the body of Christ, the do more for their communities than most protestant churches ever even think of. That said Catholics and Protestants like myself disagree on a few issues of theology. (All statements are generalizations) One of these differences is how they elevate Mary, Jesus’ mother. Most Catholics believe that she was born without sin and that she never had sex (which leaves a lot of questions about James). They did this because the male driven society had an almost impossible time dealing with Jesus, the Son of God being born by a woman. So they made the Virgin Mary better than other women. Now, “what does this have to do with Mary Magdalene?” you ask. Mary Magdalene was also…get this…a woman! She was a disciple of Jesus (the bible says that she sat at his feet which is how a Rabi (what is the plural form of Rabi…Rabites?) teaches) and she was the first one to see Jesus after he is risen which also makes her the first one to ever proclaim the gospel that Jesus is risen! Now would a society that has a problem with a woman giving birth be ok with a woman being the first to know and therefore believe in Christ as the Risen Lord? I think not.

This is what I believed happened. A few people thought, Mary Magdalene must have been better than other women too. We’ll say that she married Jesus and because we live in France, we’ll say that she came to France and had her baby here. We’ll say that this is where our royalty come from. Now, even in this society, the Catholic Church knows that it is super problematic for Jesus to have a child. So they told these few people to shut up. Hence looking like a cover up. The people who made it up and the royalty obviously didn’t want to let this idea die. That is why there are so many clues. So there, I solved it.

About the movie, I think it is probably a good thing as a whole, some people will actually believe this as truth, but really, more people will really think about this stuff. So I’ll end with a few questions. Let me remind everyone that Jesus did not have a child. But what if He did? Would it really matter? Would some one walk up to you and be like, “God’s my great great great great great great granddad”? All you’d have to say is “Oh yeah, well, God is my Father!” Aren’t all believers God’s children? Something to think about. And as always, everything here is my opinion and not gospel. also, I’ve heard mixed things about the movie some like it and some hate it, so this isn’t exactly a recommendation just a reflection.

Questions for God

So I was thinking on what to blog on today and I came across the idea of questions for God. If you could ask God any 5 questions that you wanted and He would answer, what would they be? Tough one huh. Well I've thought about it briefly and here are my five questions. I hope you will comment and leave some of your questions that you would ask God if you could. In the future maybe I'll blog on what I think a answer to these questions would be. So here it goes:

1. Who do I know personally that I am close to who is going to hell and doesn't know it?

2. What is the one thing I can do in this life that will bring the most people to know Jesus?

3. What will heaven be like?

4. When is Jesus coming back?

5. What is the secret to knowing the full character of God, His will for my life, and experiencing His presence constantly?



Well I know the last question is a 3 parter but on a serious note I think it is important to think about questions. I think we should dig deep in our faith, search out the secret corners and try to find answers. And who knows, if you ask God questions, He might just give you an answer!

Matthew 7:7

7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

The Calling of Four Fishermen

In Matthew 4:18-22 we are told that Jesus’ first disciples were Peter, Andrew, James, and John, two sets of brothers who were also fisherman. As I read this passage today, I wondered if these four guys had any idea what they were getting themselves into went they stepped out of their boats and began to follow Jesus around everywhere. I wonder if sometimes we over dramatize things in our modern telling of Jesus calling the disciples. I can just imagine some sweaty, fiery preacher with a serious urgency in his zealous voice wearing high-water pants, white socks, and a short sleeve t-shirt supporting a clip-on tie frequently gasping and using the grunt “ha” saying, “And Peter knew right then ha, that he had a choice to make ha, a choice of life and death, because to choose death ha, would mean rejecting our Savior’s call to follow him ha.”
But what was it really like? In chapter 4 of Matthew at the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, we find that after Jesus was baptized by John and experienced temptation in the desert, he moved from his hometown of Nazareth to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee and began preaching. During this time, and also in the area of Capernaum, he called these four fishermen to be his disciples. Capernaum however, is only about 20 miles away from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. One could walk from one to the other in a day. In reality, the area in which the majority of Jesus’ ministry took place is very small, not much bigger than any county in North Carolina. Perhaps Peter, Andrew, James, and John already knew Jesus fairly well when he called them. Maybe they would have said, “Jesus – oh yes, he’s that rabbi carpenter who built a fishing boat for me three years ago.”
It occurred to me today that if someone told me to follow them from North Carolina to Montana, I would have some reservation about it. However, if someone told me to follow them from Lattimore to Polkville (two small towns near my home) I would probably go along easily, especially if I were a first-century Jew and the invitation came from a respectable and friendly rabbi. When these four guys started following Jesus, I bet they had no concern for where they would stay or what they would eat. They were just following Jesus. And after all, they were just going down the road a little ways. Along the way however, they developed a friendship with the Son of God and probably learned more about the Lord than they could have dreamed. They saw miracles. They listened to Jesus’ sermons. It is amazing to think that 12 guys followed one man around an area the size of a county for only 3 years in one of the most insignificant corners of the Roman Empire and the whole world was changed because of it. Only the Son of God could have that kind of impact.
So what is the lesson for us? Maybe these four guys did not know what they were getting into, but they followed Christ right where they were and found God’s plan for their lives. Maybe we should have the mindset and attitude that says “I will follow Christ today, even if I just go down the road a little ways, and maybe I will end up finding God’s plan for my life in the same ridiculously awesome ways the disciples experienced.”

Theological Tuesdays: Virgin-Birth

Haven't you always wondered how Jesus could really have been born from a virgin? And is that really what happened or did it come from some mythological influence? We're gonna tackle these questions and more and see where we can get.

So why is this question important? Well if Jesus really was born of a virgin then this establishes beyond question the life of Jesus as a supernatural intervention of God. Now why should we believe that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary? Because if we believe in a God in heaven who created the universe and hung the stars in the sky, then we have to believe that miracles are possible. The virgin birth is nothing more than a miracle of God. So if you don't believe in miracles then it will be hard for this argument to convince you.

But there is some evidence in the Bible besides the gospel accounts to support the virgin birth. The first hint can be found in what I think is the earliest Messianic Prophecy (prophecy of a coming Messiah), which is in Genesis 3:15. In this verse God is speaking to the Serpent:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

This idea that the coming Redeemer will be the offspring or seed of a woman is very important. Why? Because in the patriarchal culture of the day, descendants were always traced through their father. Even in Matthew, when Jesus' geneaology is mentioned it is traced through his legal father Joseph. So this unique phrase, seed of the woman implies that the Messiah will come by a woman but not a natural father.

And finally to keep this thing from getting too long, lets look at the famous text in Isaiah 7:14.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. [Immanuel meaning: God with us]

This pretty much seals the deal in my book. Here we have a text written some 700 odd years before the birth of Jesus which predicts the virgin birth of a son who will be called God with us and some 2700 years later we still sing songs about Jesus calling him Immanuel. So there is no reason for us to not believe the literal biological virgin birth of Jesus if we claim to know the Living God. The prophecies were there in the Old Testament, the disciples wrote about it in the New Testament and we sing praise to the same God today, so I think we should be able to trust in Him by now and believe in the virgin birth. Besides it would be hard to claim you were Son of God if your father wasn't God! And that's exactly what Jesus did.