The Artist's Heart - Part 2

This week we will discuss the artist and emotions. We are made to be emotional beings. However, we are not to be haunted by the "dark side" of our emotions but free to live emotionally healthy, instead of unstable, slaves to untrustworthy feelings.
Jesus said "Blessed are those that mourn for they shall be comforted". King David, who was also a poet and songwriter, was an emotional guy. Would David feel at home in your church today or would he see your church as a place only for those who have "arrived"?

To help in managing emotions here are some helpful tips:

1. Be proactive about pursuing truth. (Phil. 4:8). Speak the truth to yourself and others, as David did in Psalm 51:8. The next time you catch yourself overreacting or assuming the worst of a situation, ask your self if you are basing your reaction on truth or speculation.

2. Be proactive on worshiping God. Make a commitment to regularly set aside time to worship God.
John Piper writes,"Worship must engage your emotions and worship must engage your thought. Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full of unspiritual fighters. Emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates flaky people who reject the discipline of rigorous thought. True worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine."
C.S. Lewis called worship "inner health made audible".
Also, worship music can refresh and restore you as well as reading the Psalms.

3. Seek God's will. In the garden, Jesus knew the cross was before him, and the battle within that He was fighting.  His date with the cross was growing closer and closer, and His human emotions began come out. He became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death." -Mark 14:32-34. Can you even imagine the thoughts and emotions that must have been going through His mind?  Jesus felt the fear, but He did not allow His emotions to stand in the way of God's will and God's way.

Personal Action Steps:

1. Make a commitment to read a Psalm a day and journal about what you read.
2. Make a commitment to listen to worship music this week during the time that you would normally watch TV.
3. Habakkuk 3:17-18 was written in a farming society. Rewrite this in your own words using your own work profession.

Recommended book:

Warrior Poets of the 21st Century by Robin Mark
http://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Poets-21st-Century-Robin/dp/1932307788

The Artist's Heart - Part 1

For the actor, artist, musician, sound technician, interior decorator, or other creative person, I pray this series will help you gain a better understanding of yourself and how to use your talents in ministry to others.

We see the arts play a big part in the Bible. Ezekiel acted out the siege of Jerusalem and even drew the city skyline as a backdrop (Ezekiel 4). King Solomon made windows with artistic frames (I Kings 6:4, and the temple artwork, such as the columns, had no structural significance. It was beauty for the sake of beauty (2 Chronicles 3:15-17).

The artistic journey begins with a desire to create. But this is only the beginning. The seed to create will in time grow into a full-blown philosophy of artmaking.

Here are some characteristics of a God honoring artist:

1. Excellence In Craft
They purpose to develop skills on par with the talent given them. They pray to be filled with skill, ability and knowledge. They work hard, for as the Scripture says: "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." They study to learn why some things work and others don't.
 
2. Make The Most Of Every Opportunity
They give their best to God in their home, church or university, being seen as faithful in the little things that they might be found ready and prepared for the bigger. They recognize that contemporary tools are nice to have, but are no substitute for astonishing ideas.

3. Find Balance Between Work And Rest
Foolish is the man that thinks he's succeeding just because how hard he is working. As the Scripture says, "Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil." Rather than worrying about basic provisions, true artists memorize and trust God's promises to provide.

4. Pray For Humility
True artists pray for humility and don't struggle endlessly against circumstances designed to humble them. Instead they see difficult circumstances as a provision from God and an answer to their prayers. They welcome the discipline of the Lord because it is a testimony of his fatherly love and a sure sign that he is changing them into the man or woman he has designed them to be.

5. Work Against Apathy
True artists work against indifference, unconcern and disdain. They purpose in their lives and their art to do both in such a way as to lead men and women away from such worthless occupation of the mind and heart.

6. Love The Church
Charlie Peacock writes "True artists purpose to love the Church despite indifference or opposition to their work. Though indifference is their enemy they separate it from the brother or sister who is deceived by it. They are eager to find their place in the Body and do not consider themselves exempt from fellowship and church stewardship responsibilities. They love the Church and do all they can to build it up, for how can you love Christ and hate his Church?"

7. Purpose To Think
Meditate on what is lovely and truthful and desire such things in their art. They never stop thinking. They are curious to know what makes things work. They know the power of ideas and pray to use only those whose consequences produce fruit in keeping with the Spirit of God.

8. Know Mission And Destination
They know where they are going and what they are called to do along the way. Their panoramic vision keeps their eyes on the promise ahead. It keeps their eyes on what has gone before in history.

9. Imitate Jesus
True artists imitate Jesus. They pursue greatness in craft in order to give the Lord the best fruit of the talent he has given them, not to build themselves up. They understand that true greatness is found in the heart of the servant.
After Jesus washed the feet of his disciples he told them, "I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things you will be blessed if you do them." (John 13:15-17)

Next week we will look at how the artist manages their emotions and how to do well in your creative work.

Rapture Ready?

Through the Gospels, Jesus relied on the Jewish wedding pattern for many of His parables. We can easily miss these allusions if we aren't familiar with the model of ancient Jewish wedding practices.

The Jewish Wedding
The first step, the Ketubah, or Betrothal, was the establishment of the marriage covenant, when the prospective bridegroom took the initiative and paid the price to purchase her.
Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the young man and woman were regarded as husband and wife. From that moment on, the bride was declared to be sanctified - set apart - only for her bridegroom.

After the marriage covenant was established, the groom left his bride at her home to go to his father's house, where he remained separated from his bride for approximately 12 months. This afforded the bride time to gather her dowry and prepare for married life.
During this period of separation, the groom prepared a dwelling place in his father's house to later bring his bride. At the end of the separation, the bridegroom came at night to take his bride to live with him. The groom, the best man, and other male escorts left the father's house and conducted a torch-lit procession to the home of the bride. Although the bride was expecting her groom to come for her, she did not know the time of his coming. As a result, the groom's arrival was preceded by a shout, which announced her imminent departure to be gathered with him.

The Ultimate Bride
The New Testament portrays the Church as the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:22-33. Paul continually reminds us of the purchase price and the covenant by which we, the Bride, are set apart, or sanctified.
One of the challenges in fully appreciating Paul's epistles is the need to understand the staggering and distinctive advantages afforded the Church, in contrast to those of the Old Testament saints. And it is this role as the Bride of the Bridegroom that is emphasized in the parables and in the Book of Revelation.

The Departure of the Bridegroom
The Bridegroom has departed, and His return to gather His Bride is imminent. He has gone to prepare a place for you and me. (He has been at it for 2,000 years! It must be an amazing place!)
This very doctrine of "imminence" is taught throughout the New Testament and is a cornerstone of the "pre-tribulational" view: there is no event which is a prerequisite condition for His gathering of His Bride.
Jesus (in the Old Testament) explains:
I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly. -Hosea 5:15

The Church has been promised:
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour [time] of temptation [trial], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. -Revelation 3:10

Isaiah 26:20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.

To the extent that there are geopolitical and other signs may suggest a soon return of the King on the horizon. This should, indeed, intensify our priorities to immerse in the Word, reexamine our commitments to our Coming King, stay informed on what is happening in the world (especially with Israel) and seriously address each day which remains with a high degree of urgency.
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. -Matthew 24:44

1 John 2:28 "And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming."

While we do not know when the Rapture will occur, we can use spiritual discernment to see sign posts for His return. We still have our daily routines, but remember to "look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near." Luke 21:28



Are you really ready? Do you really take Him seriously? As we walk daily with the Lord, may we be able to say with Job: My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. (Job 42:5)

Avalon - People Get Ready... Jesus is Comin'

Jazz Theology

While working on a degree in biblical studies, Robert Gelinas headed to a local jazz venue that stayed  open late and offered bottomless cups of coffee. He would talk to the musicians about Jesus, and they would teach him in the ways of jazz. "It was there," says Gelinas, "that I realized that jazz is more than music and, when understood, can be applied to prayer, Bible study, and the way we do church."

Jazz theology is what happens when we express the basic elements of jazz in our relationship with God—syncopation, improvisation, and call and response. These allow us to experience life in concert with Scripture, with other practicing Christians, be used as servant leaders and sing the blues so as not to waste any pain.
Gelinas says "To sing the blues is to embrace the cross of Christ and the cross he calls us to bear. In the process we realize that Jesus not only redeems us from our sin and sadness, he also actually redeems our sin and sadness."

One of the best things we can do is listen to what others are expressing about what God is doing in their lives, so we can serve them as Christ would.
 
Within the dynamic of His eternal will, God improvises. God’s providential jazz liberates slaves and weeps over cities. God has been triumphant and also sad. Jazz portrays the diversity, freedom and eternal freshness of God. Something in us tells us that our knowing about God is to be more than an intellectual knowing. We long for the kind of knowing that goes beyond the intellect without bypassing the intellect. The kind of knowing of God and being known by God that made God take Enoch early. The kind of knowing that rivals Moses and Joshua as they spoke with God face to face. The kind devotion with God that kept Jesus up all night in conversation with his Father. Jazz theology helps with this kind of knowing.

Robert Gelinas spoke on some key features of jazz and how they harmonize with Christianity:


1. Syncopation accents the off beat and produces swing. God is concerned with those overlooked by others and acts in surprising ways.  Acts 17:28 "For in him we live and move and have our being."



2. Improvisation allows one to be creative within a pattern. God has revealed his "song" but we can improvise within the chord changes.



3. Call and response means that we respond to God's initiative. He calls us to love him and live in and through Jesus Christ.

 ”You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John 15:16).

4. Jazz groups are ensembles in which the many function as one, without the members losing their unique identity. Christians are united in Christ, but can express their individuality in harmony with others as part of the Body of Christ. "But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. " I Corinthians 12:18

5. Jazz in rooted in the blues. The blues teaches us to embrace our pain until we smile again. Jesus embraced the ultimate pain on the Cross and turned it into our redemption.

Kirk Whalum: The Gospel According to Jazz

God of the City

Jeremiah 29:7 - Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will.

In western culture, we often think that we can change the cultures and systems in which we live. However we often underestimate how much our cultures and systems are actually shaping us. How we think, feel, and live are influenced by the places where we reside. Part of being a sent people is caring about where we live. God cares about the well-being of our city. God’s Spirit is already at work on behalf of the place where we live. Our welfare is always connected to the welfare of the community we are living in. Try as we may, we cannot be insulated from the influences of the neighborhood. God wants us to pray for our communities, invest ourselves in their welfare, and realize that we have an important role to play in our neighborhoods. Endeavor to promote, as far as you can, the prosperity of the places where you interact with others daily.

Jeremiah’s word of encouragement to the Israelites on the brink of despair was that God was at work in the midst of their messy city. The Israelites could settle down, build houses, and seek the welfare of the city where God had sent them into exile because they knew God’s ultimate plans to restore and gather them from all the nations and from all the places where He had driven them. When we understand our spiritual purpose rooted in who God is and who He created us to be, we can look back, like Joseph, over the trials in life, knowing that God has always and will always be with us (Genesis 39:3, 21).

 Remember the scene from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when the bad guys had stolen the map to find the “Holy Grail,”? Indiana was distressed at what to do next. His father, however, reminded his son not to worry, because: “I wrote the map!” When our own lives seem directionless, we need to remember that our Heavenly Father has already meticulously drawn out the maps of our lives (Psalm 139:13-16). As we seek God and come to know Him more intimately, He will give direction to our lives.

Chris Tomlin: God of this City

The Model Prayer

This prayer is often called "the Lord's Prayer", but it should really be called "the model prayer". Jesus never had to ask the Father for forgiveness. The true Lord’s Prayer is in John 17,  which is a glimpse of the intimacy between the Son and the Father.  But this prayer can be used by us as a model:

Luke 11:2] And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Jesus began with an intimate direct address: Father. The only time He didn’t call Him Father was when He couldn’t from the cross:  “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Ps 22:1). 

Seven Petitions are made in this prayer:

1. “Hallowed...”: “to set apart or sanctify” or, as here, “to treat as holy.” Thus the request was for God’s reputation to be revered by men. [Furthermore: when God’s people pray, His reputation is at stake!
2.  “Thy kingdom come...” John the Baptist, Jesus, the Twelve, and the 72 had been preaching about the coming of God’s kingdom. This is referring to the time when Christ will to rule during the Millennial Reign... and forever!
   
3. “Thy will be done...” We should continually hold up His agenda.  Prayer is God’s way of enlisting us in what He is doing. Getting ourselves to the place where He can trust us with the answer and His mission.  We never need to be afraid of the answers He gives.  Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is laying hold of His highest willingness.
   
   Luke 11:3] Give us day by day our daily bread.
   
   
4. The provisions for the day; we ask Him for needs – not our greeds.
   
   Luke 11:4] And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
   
   
5. The fifth request concerns man’s relationship to God—the forgiveness of sins. In asking for forgiveness of sins a person expresses his faith that God will forgive him (1 John 1:9).  Such a person then evidences his faith by forgiving others.
   
   
6. The sixth request is, “lead us not into temptation.” But why pray this since God does not want people to sin?  The meaning is that Jesus’ followers are to pray to be delivered from situations that would cause them to sin. His disciples, contrary to the Law experts (Luke 10:25-29), realized that they were easily drawn into sin. We are the same. We are all likely to sin and thus we need to pray to be delivered from those temptations.
   
   Our “being saved” in the past tense is being delivered from the penalty of sin (justification). This can be viewed as “being saved in the present tense: delivered from the power of sin (sanctification), by walking by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore Jesus’ followers need to ask God for help to live righteous lives.
   
   
7. Seventh petition: “Deliver us from [the] evil [one]”.

Now is the time to be strategic. Even pray for what is prophesied (thus, ostensibly inevitable). Prayer is God's way of enlisting us in what He is doing. Knowing that the 70 years of captivity were almost over, Daniel prayed for his people. And Gabriel interrupted this prayer by giving Daniel the most fantastic prophecy in the Bible.

Persistence is always a key to victory in any calling. Don't ever give up. You can't get a clear connection with headquarters with excessive static on the line. This can be the result of unconfessed sin, an unforgiving spirit, selfishness, etc. Be serious and organized. Use a notepad or notebook. Keep a battlefield record of victories! 

Recognize that God often will veto our requests for our own good. (Moses' denied entry into the Promised land, Paul's "thorn in the flesh," et al. Even Christ in Gethsemane subjected His petitions to the Father's will.)  
Don't be discouraged; that is a victory for the enemy. Realize that God finds many ways-each day-to ask you, "Do you trust me?" 

Where Are Your Leaves?

As I write this blog, it is almost tomorrow. I just came back from seeing the new movie 'The Odd Life of Timothy Green'. Warning: spoilers below! The movie involves a husband and wife who want more than anything to have a child, but can't. They begin to write down character traits for what they would want to see in their child, put them in a box, and bury it in their garden. That night a rain storm comes and through a miraculous event Timothy appears to them and becomes their son. They discover Timothy has an interesting "birthmark', leaves on his legs. Throughout the movie Timothy loses the leaves as he develops relationships with people, investing in their lives,  and self-sacrificing acts of service. Its not easy for him, as he has to let some experiences go in his life. I won't spoil the ending but it leaves you (no pun intended) with questions like "How can we make the most of the limited time we're given here on earth?" and "How can we build upon past relationships?"
As we read in Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:9, Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of what we did with the time and gifts we were given here on earth.
The judgment seat of Christ is not a place where the Lord will give out punishment for sins committed by the child of God. Rather, it is a place where rewards will be given or lost depending on how one has used his or her life for the Lord. 

God graciously supplies the means by which we may serve Him. He works in us both to will and to do as we volitionally appropriate His grace (Phil. 2:12-13), but the decision to serve, and the diligence employed in doing so, is our responsibility and contribution and God sees this as rewardable.

 We each are given gifts and abilities to serve our Redeemer and Creator here on earth. We are like the seeds in John 12:24 that must fall to the ground and die (to our selfish desires) in order to bear fruit. Invest in treasures that will last eternally: people. Have any leaves fallen off you today? 


Verses to meditate on: 

Matthew 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Colossians 1:29 And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.