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| Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas everybody, and if I don't get to mention it otherwise, have a happy new year. This is my niece Lily, and what a great gift from God she is for my family this season! Thanks to my fellow Crossroads leader Sunitha Jaikumar and her family for hooking her up with some tight Christmas gear. Christmas is not just about the cute santa outfits, gifts, or parties, although those aren't bad things. Christmas is about the good news of Jesus who came to love the world and give his life so that all people could have eternal hope in Him. Matthew 1:18-23 18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." Some observations... - Joseph showed good character by not shaming Mary, even though it was within his rights and he was probably angry and under great embarrasment himself... I wonder what I would do, or any other man, under similar circumstances... Eprops to Joe
- Note the two names given for the son are Jesus (Greek form of Hebrew translated as Joshua) and Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14)
- Joshua was known for succeeding Moses and saving the Israelites from the harm of other nations and eventually delivering them to the promised land of Canaan, after they had been brought out of slavery... this analogy is off text and sheer interpretation, but think of it for a second: Joshua was to Moses, as Jesus was to YHWH (the LORD in OT), or even as the Gospel was to the Torah? Sorry for my geekish theological tendencies.
- Emmanuel (or Immanuel = God is with us)... God not only saves us, but He is WITH us... the good news isn't just for the future, and it's not just for the past either. Jesus is with us now, in times of success and triumph as well as in times of failure and pain. Despite what you may hear, Jesus doesn't promise prosperity, he does promise us his presence in whatever we go through, and that's the kind of love I know everyone is really searching for. A father, friend, healer, teacher, peace maker... a Lord, a Savior and King; when he has your back, no matter what your sins or illnesses, it's certainly appropriate to celebrate and worship Emmanuel this season and at all times.
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| Deuteronomy 8:2-10 2Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. 3He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years. 5Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your God disciplines you. 6Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, 8a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. 10You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you. 8:3 is quoted by Jesus in Matthew 4:4, in response to the Devil questioning whether he was God’s son. The Devil tries to offer him an easy escape from fasting and his focus on the Father. - We can be distracted and fooled into living for simple daily provisions like food or other things like possessions, wealth, sex, drugs, status or even people’s approval; but eventually those won’t satisfy our deepest longings. To really “live”, we must have a total spiritual commitment to God and obedience to his Word.
- “Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest people who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. Dang it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy mess we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war...We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact.” – from Tyler Durden (Fight Club; edited and washed with soap for your protection=)
8:4; It’s hard to remember or notice all the seemingly “little” things that are going right, but when we acknowledge them, we remember God and his faithfulness. I thank God for… - His constant love and faithfulness even when I'm weak, sick, lost, or spiritually broken
- A family that cares for me
- Friends who have my back and always manage to keep me smiling
- Mentors who encourage me and give me wisdom beyond my years
- Ok im kidding about those mentors, but I love my real mentors, 2 of whom are pictured in the following...
- A church and ministry that I’m proud to be a part of
- The body of Christ whom I’ve had the honor and joy of serving, teaching and leading
- Education, something I so often take for granted
- A reliable car, clothing, food, health, shelter, books, cell phone, computer, dvds, music, entertainment and everything else I’m forgetting that I’m blessed with
8:10; Don’t forget about God, even when things are all good. - It’s typical to go to God when we’re in dire need of something, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that God wants to be more than our bail bondsmen or banker or doctor, or whoever else gets us out of harm’s way. God wants a loving relationship with us as a good father wants to be in touch with his children in good times as well as bad.
- I hope we can all thank and praise God in a genuine manner on Thursday (and really every day) not just for things like the awesome spread of food, the dominance of the Dallas Cowboys (my favorite football team), the family/friends, the time off from school/work, or the sales at stores the next morning. Maybe some of us can't even enjoy all those blessings just mentioned. In any case, we should remember to thank God for who he is and all the big and little things he has done this year. I know far too often, especially on days other than Thanksgiving, I pray for or focus on things that I don’t have yet or that haven’t been accomplished. Thanksgiving is a good reminder for me to “eat my fill” (actually nobody needs to remind me about that=) but also bless the Lord for all he has given me.
What are you thankful for? Happy Thanksgiving! | | |
| 24...Season 6 Trailerhttp://www.24trailer.com/ 24's on their 2nd African American President, is it too much to ask for one in real life?  Just FYI... I wont endorse political parties, they are kind of like denominations to me... all of them have their own pros and cons. I try to vote issue by issue, person by person. Even endorsing one candidate over another is not something i can do with much wisdom... but i do like what Senator Barack Obama has to say here about his own spiritual journey.
"It wasn't until after college, when I went to Chicago to work as a community organizer for a group of Christian churches, that I confronted my own spiritual dilemma. The Christians whom I worked with recognized themselves in me; they saw that I knew their book and shared their values and sang their songs. But they sensed a part of me that remained removed, detached, an observer in their midst. In time, I too came to realize that something was missing -- that without a vessel for my beliefs, without a commitment to a particular community of faith, at some level I would always remain apart and alone... For one thing, I believed and still believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change...Because of its past, the black church understands in an intimate way the Biblical call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and to challenge powers and principalities. And in its historical struggles for freedom and the rights of man, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death; it is an active, palpable agent in the world. It is a source of hope. And perhaps it was out of this intimate knowledge of hardship, the grounding of faith in struggle, that the church offered me a second insight: that faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts. You need to come to church precisely because you are of this world, not apart from it; you need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away -- because you are human and need an ally in your difficult journey." Note: I am not officially endorsing Obama or his party or all of his points of view, I just like this quote. | | |
| Live Free or Die...HARD! I'm excited to hear that Die Hard 4 (Live Free or Die Hard) is finally filming... for those of you who don't know the Die Hard trilogy sits just below the Bible and my 24 dvds on the shelf next to my bed. John McClane returns as the best cop east of Jack Bauer to fight internet-based terorists who are trying to systematically shut down America...which sounds like the beginning of season 4 on 24. Die Hard is a tough formula to mess up, but you never know with sequels. ...Anyhow im looking forward to it. They should cast Kal Penn as the tech support guy who saves the world, ok more likely they'll give him a terrorist role.
Speaking of movies, I recently watched the documentary Jesus Camp. It covers an evangelical camp for elementary to junior high kids in Missouri. Produced by secular filmmakers, there is sizable ammunition presented here for the critique of various facets of evangelical Christianity. Sadly many evangelicals will refuse to see this film altogether. One noted evangelical leader said this movie portrays evangelicals like Nacho Libre portrays Catholicism. I can buy that take somewhat, in that the movie really chooses only to portray an extremely conservative/charasmatic group and by inference puts all "evangelicals" in the same category. However, I think the film can be useful for valuble dialouge both between the various Christian denominations and other viewpoints as well. But sometimes I feel "we" evangelicals hide behind dismissing things and boycotting instead of standing up to the challenges brought to the faith in an honest and vulnerable manner. Why are we afraid to dialouge with such challenges and respond in love? Do we have something to hide? Some things that disturbed me were seeing kids pressured into speaking in tongues with words like "Let the Spirit of God speak through you now, he can't speak through you if you refuse to open your mouth". Shouldn't young kids or anybody speak in tongues only if and when prompted by the Holy Spirit with such a gift. There were a few kids in the audience who looked around for a while, and then just started speaking out because it looked like the right thing to do. Other things that disturbed me was bringing models of fetuses that were being destroyed by abortion, and telling kids that revival had to happen and it was up to them to stop abortion in their lifetime, as if that was the only thing God wanted for their lives. There's also one point where a cardboard cut out of George W. Bush is brought before the children, and they are asked to lay hands upon the cardboard and pray in tounges for the beloved president. Let's just say I doubt they would've done that for President Clinton. Endoctrination is something that the camp director (Pastor Becky Fischer) says is good for children becasue that is what terrorists are doing to children in other countries. Global warming is shown to be simply a contrived agenda by non believers to attack our "Christian nation". Also Harry Potter is condemned and the kids are told that Harry Potter would have been put to death in Old Testament times. One word, Wow;.... now if youre response to hearing some of these rediculous things is: oh that movie takes stuff out of context, know that this material was consented to by the camp director... she goes so far to say at the end of the film that the "liberals" will be shaking in their boots when they see this film. After seeing the film myself, I'm sure there's a few things out of context, but that shouldn't mean we dismiss the film entirely and not respond to the issues raised here. I see very little of the message of Jesus in all of this, rather a human culture (so called Evangelical Christianity). It is so far entrenched in politics that it can no longer percieve what it truly means to love one's neighbor, love God, or follow the teachings of Scripture. The irony is that I attend an Evangelical seminary and work within an Evangelical community of faith (thankfully i see in my community very little resemblance to the group in the film, but believe me we have our own set of unique problems). Obviously "Evangelical" is a loaded term that requires much more polishing than i could do justice for now. I'd love to respond to these things with more detailed theological critiques, but i'd rather discuss these things in person than present more writing than I've already published here. Let me know if you see it and would like to talk about it. | | |
| Crossroads '06 Review Crossroads '06: Lose Yourself ; Mark 8:34-35 ; 8/26/06 @ APU 
As many of you have already heard or know because you attended, the CR '06 conference was a great blessing. The challenge for young people to lose themselves as they found life in Jesus was given and received with teachable hearts. We hope to have DVD and Audio resources available shortly. Props to the CR '06 Leadership Team, and the Worship (along with our guest bands), Seminar and Small Group Leaders.  I especially want to thank our keynote speakers Rev. Dr. Jawahar Gnaniah and Pastor John Teter. Rev. Gnaniah kicked off the day by speaking on the need for people to know and understand Jesus in their hearts (not merely religion) before they could really lose themselves and commit their lives to following Him. Pastor Teter closed out the evening by exhorting people to lose themselves and be faithful witnesses of Jesus as the Holy Spirit led, even in the midst of rejection or trials.
Check out a church plant i'm a part of w/ Pastor John Teter: Fountain of Life Covenant Church in Long Beach, CA. Preview Services: October 15, November 12, and December 3... Hamilton Middle School 1060 East 70th St. Long Beach, CA 90805 
Crossroads will start weekly Sunday evening meetings for prayer and fellowship starting Sunday October 8th @ 5:30 pm, with celebration services and guest speakers every last Sunday of the month especially catering to commuters and those involved in other fellowships. Visit www.crossroadslive.org for the 411 on how to get connected with our young adult group, small groups (I represent da EMPIRE!, hit me up if u think u can hang=), etc. Crossroads, for those of you who don't know, is the young adult ministry of East West Community Church, a South Asian fellowship in Anaheim. I have been blessed to be on staff there the last two years, and i serve with a wonderful mentor in Rev. Gnaniah. I've enjoyed ministering to my people in a warm and loving community of faith, and still look forward to it every Sunday evening. Visit us at East West/Crossroads on Sundays, services starting 4 pm @... Magnolia Baptist Church 720 S. Magnolia Ave. Anaheim, CA 92804
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