Hyssop

Don’t know what hyssop is? Then you’re not alone. I first time I stumbled across it was in John.

“A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.” John 19:29

Hum. That was interesting. At first I just thought John was adding detail to his account because he was there. Then, I stumbled onto the word again a few days later.

“[First Passover] Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.” Ex. 12:22

This caught my attention. Jesus’ sacrifice often ties into the first Passover, when the angle of death passed over the houses with the lamb’s blood. So, what is the connecting between the first Passover and Christ’s death? What is hyssop?

Hyssop is a common herb which grew in Bible times. Common varieties grow to about two feet tall and spread about a foot. It has beautiful purple blue flowers and a strong mint smell. If you have ever seen or grown catmint, hyssop looks somewhat similar. Hyssop was often used as a cleaning agent and was widely used to clean sacred places such as temples.

At both on Passover and Good Friday, a cleansing and forgiveness of sins was taking place. In both cases, someone else was taking our place and met death. In both cases, hyssop was used, and our sins were cleared.

In Palms 51:7, David cries out “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean!” If you have accepted the forgiveness of Jesus, then you have been cleansed with hyssop! By the blood of the lamb, death was satisfied. Our sins were gone. We are clean!

Source: http://www.hannahscupboard.com/ST-hyssop.html

Simple

Christianity is simple. The Bible is simple. Sometimes, we think it’s too simple, and try to add rules and complicate the gospel: you have to pray this way, you have to worship that way, you have to serve this way, etc. That’s what the Pharisees did, right? They took the simple word of God and added their own rules. What does it mean to rest on the Sabbath? Can you cook? How far can you walk? We often like to add our own rules and definitions to God’s word.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest command was, his answer was simple: Love God with your all heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Simple right? You could take this one verse and lived by it for a year, and you could change a lot of lifes.

Simple doesn’t mean easy. ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is simple, but it’s not easy. Being told ‘dig a ditch that’s 1’ wide, 1’ deep, and a mile long’ is simple. Is it easy? No. That’s the beauty of God’s word: It is simple, yet not easy.

Word Patterns

When you're studying the Bible, it's good to have a few tools to help you understand the meaning, or point of the passage. One of these helpful tools is too look for patterns. If a phrase or word is repeated, it is important. For example, look at Psalms 150: The word "Praise" is repeated. In six verses, the word "praise" in there 13 times. The word praise is apparently important.

Sometimes it can be trickier to find the patterns. In today's world, we are taught not to repeat words, but to use a thesaurus. Sometimes, the translator doesn't like to use the same word over and over, so he turns to his thesaurus. In the example above, instead of using the word "praise" every time, he might also use "respect" "worship" "extol", etc. All though it may be easier to read, it will be harder to find the word patterns. We’ll look at an example from the book of Ruth tomorrow.

The Hyde Monster

According to the Bible, we are all like Hyde. We are born with the evil all ready inside of us. Society doesn’t corrupt us and make us do evil. We are born ready to do evil without any help.

Have you ever noticed that you never have to teach a child to hit, or to lie, or to talk back? Those are skills they devolve all on their own. Mankind is basically evil.

This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.
Ecclesiastes 9:3

The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:8-10

It’s kind of scary. We don’t like the idea that babies are all ready corrupted, or that we are only capable to do wrong and are incapable to do anything good, including saving ourselves from own monster.

This is the biggest separation between worldviews; every other world view believes that man is basically good, and therefore can earn his own salvation. Christianity says that man is basically evil and therefore can’t earn his salvation. An outside force must save him.

As Christians, we are saved by Jesus Christ. We are able to watch our Hyde crucified and die. We are able to be set from slavery to our evil twin, and new are free to serve the One who freed us.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:24-25

Spiritual Starving

Have you ever skipped a meal? How about two? If you have, you know that you’re starving by end of it. All of sudden, things that you never would have touched before look good. We throw all caution aside and eat whatever we can find.

You loss discernment. Everything tastes good. How can you tell what’s really good and what’s so-so? They all taste the same. As Nick told Katie in the movie No Reservations: “A good critical chief has a full stomach.”

What do you think happens when we spiritual starve ourselves? What happens? Soon, we become spiritual hunger and will eat anything, even if it isn’t good for us. Things that you never thought about touching look delicious. We lose our spiritual discernment. Everything tastes so good.

This is a dangerous place to be in.

The Bible is called our bread and living water. When’s the last time you’ve eaten?

National Day of Prayer

"If my people, who are called by my name,
will humble themselves and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
and I will forgive their sin
and will heal their land."
2 Chronicles 7:14

My people. The children of God. That means us. The Church. Not the "Sinners". Not those other people. Us. You. If we, the Church, humble ourselves, if we pray, if we seek his face and turn from our wicked ways, God will forgive us and will our land.

Today, on National Day of Prayer, humble yourself, pray, seek His face, and repent. May God heal our broken land.

Word Definition: Praise & worship

Praise: To say good things about; give a good opinion of
Worship: Very great love or admiration. The act of showing honor and respect for God. To take part in a religious service.

This Sunday, give Him glory and honor. Tell him how awesome He is. Praise needs to be about us letting God know how cool He is.

Praise needs to be about Him, not us. One thing praise does is remind us how great God is and how weak we are. It humbles us in His spirit. It takes our minds off of ourselves and puts it on Him, which is where it belongs.

Psalms 150
Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise Him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!

The End of the Beginning

A short video I made. In this video, air plane passengers discuss the life of Jesus; His birth, His miracles, His death, and His glorious resurrection. Song dramatic song is performed by David Phelps.

Too Old?

Some say the Bible isn’t relative anymore since it’s too old. If you follow that same logic, gravity doesn’t apply anymore since it’s too old. Just because something is old doesn’t mean it’s useless.

The Bible is relative to today. It may not talk about iPhones, or TVs, or cars, but it does address things that haven’t changed, like how mankind should live, or what the nature of God is, and these principles apply whether we are in the first century, or the 21st century.

While at TeenPact, I asked a question: how can you find out if something is absolute truth? The answer: if something is relevant to all people at all times, then it is absolute truth.

The fact that the Bible is old gives more reason to believe it; it has stood the test of time.

Too Many Authors?

Some people think that having too many will cause errors. Normally, there would be.

Imagine writing an essay on a controversy topic, or a topic one can’t fully understand, like black holes. No one is 100% sure what a black hole is.

Now, have 40 different authors write an essay about this topic. These men are scattered throughout history, about a 4,000 year window. Some lived in Egypt, some in Rome, some in Israel, some Babylon. They all are from different backgrounds, education and occupation: an Egypt prince, fisher men, a former slave, religious leaders, kings, prophets, etc. Now, take all these essays and put them into one book. What do you have? A mess!

This was how the Bible was written: 40 different authors all from different time frames, backgrounds, and places writing about the most controversial and mysterious topic ever known to mankind: God. God’s hand was on these men as they wrote.

Since God is flawless, so is His word.

Too Many Errors?

Every worldview is based on a standard. The standard of Christianity is the Bible. Is it reliable? Can you trust it? Why? We looked at some reasons why people don’t believe the Bible.

A lot of people think the Bible is unreliable since it has too many errors. So many different people wrote it. It was written by men, right? Men are flawed.

If someone comes to you and says the Bible has too many errors, ask them to show you one. It’s amazing! They can’t. You know why? There aren’t any!

There have been atheist who have read the whole Bible trying to find errors; they couldn’t. In fact, they often come to Christ because the Bible is so powerful.

"As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him."
-2 Samuel 22:31

Forgotten?

An orphan girl living with her cousin. She works hard with her cousin to provide enough food for them to eat. Kidnapped from her home. Treated by the servants to make her physical body beautiful, to make her fit for her one night with the man who kidnapped her. She doesn’t want to give her body to any man but her husband, but if she refuses to sleep with him, she’ll be killed. She has no freedom, no way home, no way of escape.

At this point, one might say this young girl has been forgotten. The fateful tides of this world have swept this unfortunate girl into a horrible situation, a situation she has no control over. If you were in her shoes, you may think how could God allow this to happen?

God is faithful. He works all things together for those who love Him. He can take the fateful tides of this world and bend them to accomplish His will.

Some may say this girl’s story is over, but God used this girl to save His people from slaughter.

This is the story of Esher.

God commands it

Before we go any further, there is something that must be made clear; why? Why should we love? Why should we sacrifice what we own for others? If you’re going to go through all that work, shouldn’t you know why? Without a reason, it is very easy to get discouraged.

First reason: God commands it.

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you”—John 15: 12

“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another”—1 John 3:11

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”—1 John 2:9-10

“Jesus replied: ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘love your neighbor as yourself’”—Matthew 22:37-39

Short. Sweet. Simple.

We’ll look at another reason why we should love on Friday.

Counterfeits

How can we recognize evil in the world today? If everyone is trying to look good and right, how can we tell the differences? How can we identify what is a counterfeit, and what is genuine?

Know the original.

Bankers aren’t shown counterfeits; they work with really money. It would be nearly impossible to learn all the counterfeit money. There are always new ways and new tricks of making the money look more realistic; there is simply no way one could keep up with the twisted lies. The original, however, will never change.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He won’t change. If you know Him and His voice, you will recognize any counterfeit that comes you way. When you know the voice of Jesus, you will identify when someone who try to imitate it.

psalms

Blessed is he
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man
whose sin the LORD does not count against him
and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;


-Psalms 32:1-2 & 37: 3-7

Move!

Do you want to see God move in your life, your friend's life, your family, etc.? Then you have to move. God can’t move through you unless you are willing to move. If you want change the world, you're going to need to get off your tail and go out there and do something. You need to move!

Two Wolves

Once, a pastor went to an Indian tribe to share the gospel of Christ. After a few months, the whole tribe accepted the gospel with great joy and passion.

One day, the pastor came to the home of the chief.

“Ever since we have followed Christ,” the chief told the pastor. “I feel a battle going on inside me. It’s like there are two wolfs fighting within me. The first, the white one, is the new truth of Christ. The other, the black one, is the old beliefs and our old wrong ways. They are fighting within me.”

“Which one wins?” the pastor asked. The chief smiled.

“The one I feed the most,” he answered.

Resurrection video

God's Promises

God is a God who keeps His promises. When He says something, what He says will come true. We can trust Him 100%.

Too many times, we put human limitations on God; humans break their promise, they lie, or sometimes they did everything in their power, but something outside of their control prevented them.

However, God is in control of everything. When He says, “I will move in your life. I will give you the desires of your heart if you obey my commands.” He means it, and it will come true.
When He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” we don’t need to worry about being alone; He is right there with us, even if it don’t feel like it. God’s word is always true.

Don’t let go of the promises God has given you. I know sometimes you can’t see anyway that His promise will come ever happen; don’t give up. Hang on. It’s easy to trust God in the sunlight and when everything is going well. It’s harder to trust His word when everything seems to be falling apart around us.

2 Corinthians 1:18-20

The Sower

The Parable of the Sower is one of the well known parables told by Jesus. Too many times, we read this passage and say to ourselves, “Jesus is just talking about salvation. I know I am saved, so I must be the good soil.”

I don’t think this parable is talking only about salvation. It’s talking about the Word of God. God’s word is ever being spoken in our lives; it is always around us, hovering over us, speaking to us. God speaks to us every day in so many different ways; the Bible, prayer, His voice in our heart, His creation, other believers, etc. The question is, what will you do with the word given to you?

If our hearts are like the four different soils, how we receive the word will depend on the condition of our heart. We can go to church, youth group, read the Bible, but if we don’t let the word grow in our lives, it’s like throwing seed on rocks. We must be sure our hearts are soft so we can receive the word. We must have a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering, produce a crop.

Preserve. I know following Jesus can be so hard sometimes, and we want to quit. Be diligent; diligence isn’t just taking shelter until the storm passes, but also pressing forward when things are hard.