Well another Christmas has come and gone. Billions of dollars have been spent on mostly useless gifts which serve mainly to keep face with high maintenance family and friends. All those months looking forward to Christmas and “BANG” - it’s now gone.
At the end of the day, it’s now totally cliche to say, “remember the reason for the season.” But…who cares. Here goes. Christmas - although totally pagan in it’s history and celebration, is a time for the masses of the world to be exposed to the story of the birth of Jesus.
This man achieved more in his last 3.5 years of his 33 year old life then anyone could ever imagine. No other person has more books written, more songs sung, more pictures printed or more poetry composed than Jesus. In 3.5 years, this man changed the course of history.
His life, death, burial and resurrection simply stunned mankind and 2000 years later, we are still basking in His brilliance. And 2000 years later, His message and His ability to change people and transform lives is still as strong as when He walked the arid paths of Israel.
Below is a simple but great video to emphasise the ability of this humble carpenter to totally turn the logic of this world, upside down.
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To THE WEAK, I BECAME THE WEAK, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” 1 Cor 9:19-23
In modern expression, this would read, “I do whatever it takes to connect to people wherever they are so that what I say about Jesus can be understood clearly by them in their situation.”
In this day of pluralistic generations…baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and whatever other label the marketers impose on us, one thing remains very true - the way we engage life is vastly different amongst the generations. What’s normal for the baby boomers is seen as stupid by the Gen Y’ers and vice versa.
To legitimise one view over the other is a foolish exercise on a number of levels as each camp will hold on fast to what they believe. Having said that, if baby boomers look down on Gen X or Y for their “foolish ways” they need to remember that they helped create this generation in their pursuit of profits and share holder return. Yes we are the product of your greed - much like the current financial crisis.
It’s no wonder then that a generation of rebelious and angry people are the result of the seeds planted by previous generations. And one of the ways this generation get’s it’s therapy is from music - and the angrier the music, the more dark it is, the more the young resonate to it - just ask the growing emo subculture.
And that’s where I take my hat off to a Christian band called Flyleaf. These guys are heavy, these guys are dark and they dwell in dark areas of the human experience. But what sets them apart is that through their music, they connect to a lost and hurting generation by dwelling on their level of human existence and point people to a God able to meet their needs at exactly the place they are at.
One of my favourite passages of scrpture is this:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Cor 1:3-4
Flyleaf’s lead singer, Lacey Mosely, had a tough life. From the bands website she says:
“My mom was a young single mother of six. We didn’t have money and things were hard for all of us. We moved whenever we couldn’t make ends meet in one place, and that happened pretty often so there was a lot of struggling, suffering and character building.
“It’s easy to get depressed when you’re dealing with that kind of stress,” she continues, “especially when it looks like things will never get better. There was nothing constant in my life, and nothing to believe in. I got into some really bad stuff that I thought would make me feel more loved, or maybe just numb, but it cost me everything that was important to me, and literally almost took my life.”
This is so typical of many of the young these days. As a result of the behaiviour of parents, the kids get all messed up - like I said, we are the offspring of our parents issues.
Flyleaf’s self-titled debut album echoes with songs about abuse, neglect, addiction and dysfunction, and messages about overcoming adversity - a true light at the end of the tunnel for todays generation.
Check out the following interview to get into the band’s mindset:
Below are a bunch of songs from the band for you to enjoy. But before you check them out, play the next video to see them impacted by the poverty in Africa:
This band is truly connected to the western young and are impacted by the devestation on this planet and are compelled to do soemthing about it. These guys are truly missional and before any of you religous people freak out, get a life, get humble and get “changed”. And now for their music…
And…as we approach Christmas, it’s good to ground yourself in the truth behind the silly season - even from a Christian perspective. Cool little cartoon exposing the tradition from the the real meaning. Hope you enjoy…
It’s nice to see that the talent from Fellowship Church is made available for all to view and share. Pace Hartfield is in charge of all the creative stuff at the church and now has a Vimeo account where he makes available the graphic content. Below are some of my favourites and I hope you enjoy:
Upside Down
A cool little clip showing the renewing of the mind.
Trans Siberian
The perfect mix of classical and rock music with awesome artwork. Trans Siberian is a favourite of mine and to see this played in a church is a huge blessing to me.
OK so now it seems I’ve fallen into the habit of using controversial headlines to grab your attention. Sorry but I’m a product of the media.
For the record, I don’t believe He is schizophrenic - not at the slightest. But in my journey of faith so far, there have been many times I have come across passages of scripture that don’t conflict, but rather make me question my understanding of God in a huge way.
For example, and this will be addressed later on as well, why would God spare King David after he was found to be an adulterer and murderer and declare that this guy was a “man after His own heart” and then kill on the spot Ananias and Sapphira for withholding a small amount of money after selling their property? (See Acts 5:1-11)
The Bible is full of these kinds of scenarios and a hardened heart would probably conclude that God is indeed a bit of a schizo. But I’m not dumb, arrogant and full of myself to come to that conclusion cause I know my God is good and all I have is but a tiny understanding of Him.
Matt Chandler
So the other day, my mate and Pastor Mark Jurisic, handed me over a sermon by Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor of The Village Church in Texas. He said that it would blow my mind. And being my mate and knowing what gets me thinking, and listening to a tonne of Matt’s sermons before, I knew he was onto a good thing. The sermon was called “Does God Have Two Wills” and Matt builds his case like this:
We all know that God desires people to be saved right? Scriptures like the following clearly state this fact:
This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires ALL PEOPLE to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth | 1 Tim 2:3-4
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,NOT WISHING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, but that ALL should reach repentance | 2 Pet 3:9
Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? | Eze18:23
From these versus, we see the will of God clearly right? I mean, the big guy upstairs seems to be in our corner right? Our ultimate cheer leader - ready willing and able to wipe our slate clean at the slightest hint of a repentant heart. Then how do you reconcile this mindset with a passage such as this:
“..like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, HE WAS REJECTED, for he found NO CHANCE TO REPENT, though he SOUGHT IT WITH TEARS” | Heb 12:16b-17
If it’s God’s will for all to be saved, then why on earth does He refuse people when they seek repentance or, even worse still, kill them on the spot before they have a chance to repent?
To get the answer, you need to listen to Chandler as he questions these and many more examples. A word of warning though, this stuff is deep and you will walk away broken - especially if you subscribe to the bling, bling version of “christianity” where God is your means to an end to get what you want in life. Hope you enjoy.
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Paul says..
It’s nice to see that the talent from 
OK so now it seems I’ve fallen into the habit of using controversial headlines to grab your attention. Sorry but I’m a product of the media.
What you have said