It's that day again :)

Greetings one and all! Sorry for the long wait. Well, it's that day of the week again. It's Wednesday so please especially pray for the AIM students (all of those on their mission fields around the world and those in Lubbock). Pray for Rob and Denyce and their team as they go through Advanced Missions at Sunset and as they get ready to go to Moscow, Russia to be missionaries some time later. Please pray for Elijah and Kristan and their team as they get ready to go to Auckland, New Zealand to be missionaries. They told me a week or two ago they are leaving in January, 2008 now. Pray for Robin and Chrissy as they are in the two year program at Sunset preparing for full time mission work somewhere in this world. And lastly, pray that the Lord will raise up more workers for the harvest fields around the world.
I will blog more later. God bless! Peace be with you.
Zack

A Few Things

Hi there everyone. I hope and pray everyone had a good day yesterday and will have a good one today too.
I was just listening to a sports talk show on the radio and they were just talking about a married couple who are Michigan graduates. The husband said that he is already sick and tired of Michigan losing and he's not going to cheer for them anymore. He is putting his allegiance up on E-Bay. If the winning school bids $25 or more, he'll wear the new school's t-shirt. If the winning school bids $75 or more, he'll wear the school's jersey on game days. His wife on the other hand added that she does not support her husband in this matter. She's vowed to cheer for her school win or lose. That her allegiance can't be bought. She's staying true to her school. Thinking about this just now brings to mind what the Bible teaches about staying true God no matter what comes our way. In Hebrews 10:19 and following we see that we who are in Jesus are made holly and washed clean (vv. 19-22). In verse 23 especially says, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful". And in chapter 11:35b and following takes about those who were faithful to God in the Old Testament times, but they were tourtered, beaten, flogged, and other horrible things were done to them because of their faith in God. But they would not sell their allegiance to anyone. They held strong to their faith and so must we when we face struggles and trials in our lives. In verse 38a we read "...the world was not worthy of them ..." They would not back down and sell their loyalties away so easily. In verses 39-40 we read, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect".
In another sports story that came out this week, a NFL team has been found guilty of video taping defensive signals from the opposing team during the game. This same team was caught doing this last season too, but I think only got a slap on the wrist. The tape was taken away and sent off to the league offices were they found the team in question guilty. The commissioner has come down with the strong arm of the law on NFL players who have been repeating doing bad stuff, so a lot of people suspect the commissioner to to lay down the strong arm of the law in this case too since this isn't the first time this team has done this. This brings to mind Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. You remember the story? A lot of people in the church were selling houses and/ or land they owned bring the money and giving to the Apostles. Well these two decided to sell a piece of property they owned, but they don't want to give it all. They wanted to keep some of it for themselves (which, I am sure would have been perfectly allowable). But they give part of it, only they said they gave all of it. They didn't lie to the Apostles, they lied to God. And it was as if God said, Hay! Now that's not cool. We're going to put a stop to this right now"! And BAM! The strong arm of the law comes down hard! It got everyone's attention real quick.
In closing, thank you all who have been praying for the AIM students all over the world and in Lubbock. And for all of my friends I usually ask for. Please keep all of that up. Thanks once again. More blogging later. Peace! God's richest blessings be on all of you.
Zack

Thoughts on John 2

Greetings everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I just read John chapter 2 and saw something very interesting. In verse 1 through 11 Jesus, His mother, and disciples were all invited to a wedding (vs. 1-2). There was wine being served there and it had all run out. I am sure that was a very embarrassing ordeal for the hosts (v. 3a). Jesus' mother approaches Him and asks Him to do something (v. 3b). In verse 4 Jesus asks her why she is getting Him involved in this, that His time hasn't come yet. (v. 4). There is wide speculation as to what "...My time has not yet come" comment means. I guess it means that He wasn't ready to perform any miracles yet or He wasn't ready to reveal Him self yet, or something else entirely. But, in any rate He helped the wedding party hosts out. In verses 6 through 8 we see that there were six stone jars sitting near by and Jesus told the servants to fill each of them to the top with water. Then He told them to scoop some out and take it to the host of the wedding party. By that time it had been miraculously been turned to wine. The host thought the wine was very impressive and pulled the bridegroom aside and told him that everyone puts out the best wine first and the down-sized stuff last, but that he saved the best wine for the end. No one knew but the servants were this came from (vs. 7-10). Verse 11 indicates that this was the first miraculous sign that Jesus performed and that His disciples first started to believe in Him then.
John is a remarkable gospel account, because it was written to help us believe in Jesus as the Messiah. These stories were written by eye-witnesses who wrote so those who come after them will believe in Jesus too.
God bless you!
Zack

John 1 thoughts

Greetings one and all! I hope everyone is having (and will have) a great day today.
I was reading John chapter one a few days ago and some things there really stood out to me there. In verse 35 when Jesus passes by John the Baptist, he says of Jesus "Look! The Lamb of God!". Two of his disciples heard him say that and immediately got up and followed Jesus. He stopped and turned and said, "What do you want". And they say, "Lord, where are You staying?". And He replies, "Come and see". And they spend the remainder of the day together. The next day we see that one of the disciples who followed Jesus was Andrew. The first thing he did was find his brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah!" (that is the Christ). Now notice what he did next. He brought him to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He gave him a new name: Peter (vs. 35-42). In verses 43 and following the text says Jesus was walking around and found Philip and said, "Follow Me!". And he did. In verse 45 he found Nathaniel and told him they found the Messiah who is from Nazareth. Nathaniel obviously thought Nazareth was so little hick town, because he said, "Nazareth?! Can anything good come from there?". And of course Philip says, "Come and see". And he did and Jesus tells him he is a true Israelite in whom is nothing false. And Nathaniel asks "How do you know me?". And Jesus says He saw him while he was under a fig tree when Philip talked with him. And that convinces him that Jesus is the Messiah.
Now, I told all of this to say, that Andrew and Philip were acting like missionaries here. They brought there family member and friend to Jesus.
Now, with that in mind and since it's Wednesday, please remember to pray for the AIM students on the mission field and those in Lubbock. Please pray for my friends Rob and Denyce and their whole team as they go through Advanced Missions at Sunset and as they prepare themselves for their mission in Russia. Please pray for my friends Elijah and Kristan and their whole team as they finish up their preparations and get ready to go to Auckland, New Zealand sometime this month. Pray for my friends Robin and Chrissy as they go through Sunset.
And lastly, pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers into His harvest fields (Matthew 9: 37-38).
Thank you all! God bless! Peace!
Zack
ps. If you get the Christian Chronicle newspaper, there is a really cool article about Sunset in this month's addition. Please pick it up and read it. Also Christian Chronicle is on the internet too (christianchronicle.com or org or something). Please check it out. Blessings!

1 Cor. 1 thoughts

Greetings one and all! I hope and pray everyone had a great weekend and a great Labor Day. My parents and I did. My sister and her family and our grandparents came over. That was a lot of fun! I miss seeing all of my siblings and their spouses (and soon to be spouse).
I was reading 1 Corinthians 1 today and somethings really stood out to me. The church in Corinth obviously had a lot of problems and Paul spends the majority of this letter addressing these problems and questions that they had. One of those problems is in 1:10-17."I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another "I follow Apollos"; another "I follow Cephas" still another "I follow Christ". Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I didn't baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, beyond that I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ didn't send me to baptize but to preach the gospel- not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of it's power".
Two summers ago I got the opportunity to go to Cameroun, West Africa for two weeks for a mission trip through my church. I worked with a great man of God who preaches the Word there. One thing I remember about him is we both spoke about the church of Christ. We are not supposed to talk about "Paul's" church, or "Matthew's church" or another person's church. It is Jesus' church! It's like when a couple gets married. The wife doesn't keep her maiden name, or another man's name. She takes her husband's name
In verses 18 through 31 we see how great God is and that He obviously has a sense of humor. He will show Himself to those who sincerely are looking for Him, and He will completely frustrate those who think they know it all and don't need anything.
Both Jews and Greeks find God when they honestly look for Him. And those from both camps stumble over the "chief cornerstone" when they (and we) think we know it all and don't need anything. May God help us to remember these things.
I think the Pepperdine Lectures covered 1 Corinthians a few years ago. If anyone reading this blog attended that Lectureship, please chime in here with any insights.
Of course I invite insights and comments from anyone and everyone. God bless!
Zack