cloudcity's Xanga

Countdown

Fri, 01 May 2009 09:48:25 GMT

Not much of a countdown...it sort of snuck up on me.

I've slept a total of 10 hours...in 5 days.

I'm either excited, or it's that chicken nugget kicking in that I ate just now.

Thanks everyone for all your encouragement and support this past week. You guys have been awesome. Connie and I are incredibly touched, blessed, and humbled by all the friends and family around us who have pitched in, encouraged us, or just made us laugh when we needed to.

Man, I think I'll stay up until Saturday morning now. Too much coffee and coke today.

2008 NBA Playoff Predictions

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:55:47 GMT

I'm too lazy to draw out the bracket, so this works too:

Eastern Conference: Round 1
(1) Boston vs. (8) Atlanta: Boston in 4
(2) Detroit vs. (7) Philadelphia: Detroit in 4
(3) Orlando vs. (6) Toronto: Orlando in 6
(4) Cleveland vs. (5) Washington: Cleveland in 7

Western Conference: Round 1
(1) Lakers vs. (8) Denver: Lakers in 5
(2) New Orleans vs. (7) Dallas: Dallas in 6
(3) San Antonio vs. (6) Phoenix: Phoenix in 6
(4) Utah vs. (5) Houston: Utah in 5

Eastern Conference: Round 2
(1) Boston vs. (5) Cleveland: Boston in 4
(2) Detroit vs. (3) Orlando: Detroit in 5

Western Conference: Round 2
(1) Lakers vs. (4) Utah: Lakers in 6
(6) Phoenix vs. (7) Dallas: Pheonix in 5

Conference Finals
(1) Boston vs. (2) Detroit: Boston in 7
(1) Lakers vs. (6) Pheonix: Lakers in 7

Finals
(1) Lakers vs. (1) Boston: Boston in 7

Finals MVP: Kevin Garnett

Regular Season Awards (who should win, not who will win):

Executive of the Year: Danny Ainge and Kevin McHale

Coach of the Year: Byron Scott

Most Improved: Ramon Sessions. Just kidding, Hedo Terkoglu

Sixth Man: Manu Ginobli

Defensive Player: Kevin Garnett

Rookie of the Year: Kevin Durant

Most Valuable Player: Kobe Bryant

In a bizzaro universe, where this could have happened.

Connukkah 2008

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:48:26 GMT

Connukkah 2008

The Festival of Connie

Instead of one day of presents, it’s 8 crazy nights.

Begins:

Tuesday, February 6, 2008, Connie's 25^th Birthday.

Ends:

Wednesday, February 14, 2008, Valentine’s Day

We're in the middle of the festivities of Connukkah, which this year will be accompanied by the private fasting of foods prohibited by the law of Connie, and the pleasing offering of stuffed clean animals. Poems and other forms of adulation are also encouraged.

Oh crap, I need to buy stuff for this week.

This place rips you off but has lots of cool stuff: http://1800flowers.com.

Born Identity

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:17:30 GMT

New Life Young Adult Fellowship

Spring 2008 Welcome Night -- Friday, February 8, 2008, 7:30 PM

http://www.bolnl.org

New Life Core Leadership

Contact: bolnl-core at yahoogroups.com, for any questions.

Engage

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 06:46:10 GMT

Not during Connukah or at the Star Trek Tour, but on the frosty evening of December 14, 2007...

Ms. Connie Wang and I decided to drive up to Marmalade's Cafe for a lovely dinner...

...where we ate nothing but dessert. Just kidding, there was actually real food. Like cows.

But wait, we have to go back to the car to get something...what's this in Gina's glove compartment?

It's a cute photo album I put together of our relationship recapping our two years. But since I'm usually so romantic anyways, she suspects nothing out of the ordinary.

After browsing through the shops in the PV Mall, we then drive up to Marymount College to watch the Geminds Meteor Shower. We aim to count at least 12 meteors...

And we see one shooting star...and seconds later, another...

Several minutes pass by and we count the 9th, 10th, and 11th meteors in a row. The sky grows quiet and the last one is nowhere to be seen. Where's the 12th? We're getting cold!

"I found one!" "Where? Where?"

Connie looks at the direction I'm pointing and I take the ring out of the box I'm holding up -- the 12th meteor. "Will you marry me?"

"I'm scared! Are you tricking me?" After having to convince her that this was not some elaborate reverse reverse psychology, she says "Yes."

After praying together, we cherished the moment at her condo over chocolate tea...

Our hope is for Christ to be continually magnified in our life and love, as we go forward on this journey together.

"Engage!"

Surprise

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:41:31 GMT

"Either Connie and Julie are really confused, or they've come up with the most brilliant plan ever."

It turns out it was quite brilliant after all.

Connie made ribs, brocrolli, and corn soup last night to top it off. We then watched this episode:

Exactly my expression last Sunday

If you can name the episode, you are awesome.

Clone

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:04:54 GMT

This just lost all credibility when it claimed I was a cross between Kiera and Ho Chi Minh.

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

New Life Welcome Night -- July 13, 2007

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 22:10:18 GMT

Recent college graduates, Young Adults moving into the area, or just someone looking to fellowship, come join us!

Genesis 22:1-19: One Thing

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 06:34:16 GMT

One Thing

Genesis 22:1-19

Genesis 22

Abraham Tested

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

² Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"

"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.

"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

⁸ Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

¹²"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

¹³Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

¹⁵ The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD , that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

¹⁹ Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

Part I: Why did God test Abraham?

Abraham was sacrificing what mattered to him the most
A picture of God’s sacrifice of his Son
A desire to see obedience worked out

Part II: What is relevance of this passage to Jewish monotheism?

The One Thing we worship and follow
The One Thing we are concerned over
The One Thing we believe can satisfy us

Part III: How can we gain everything when we lose it all?

Recognize the One Thing that hold us back from the prize
Carry the cross as Christ did
Hope in his resurrection

Hebrews 11

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” ¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Part I: Why did God test Abraham?

1. Abraham was sacrificing what mattered to him the most.

Genuine passion is fueled by present risk for future reward. It is the risk of things we have right now for the reward of things to come. It demands forsaking comfort for the promise of something greater. This is displayed in how we risk our time, interactions with people, and money.

The phrase "one thing" has a dual meaning. It refers to God being the “one thing" that is our sole passion, but it can also refer to that "one thing" that holds us back from getting there. At times, faith requires us to risk and sacrifice the things we don’t want to put at risk. If genuine passion is built on great risks and great risks require great sacrifices, then the key to passion is sacrifice.

Genesis 21

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

² Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Recall the story of Abraham from last week. Abraham waited long and hard for a son. Not everyone is able to have children, and we sympathize with the anguish that he and Sarah must have dealt with for over 70 years. But, God promised him a son when he was 75 years old, and it wasn’t until Abraham was 100 years old that Isaac was born.

Yet now, within a few years, God was now asking him to sacrifice Isaac—that one blessing Abraham looked forward to and now cherished! God picked the sacrifice of Isaac because it was the one thing that would matter to Abraham the most. Abraham and Sarah waited long for a son, and now, God was taking that only child away!

God’s test was: “Does Abraham love Isaac more than he loves God?” “Does he trust God enough to give that one thing that’s most significant to him up to God?” “Is God truly the one thing—the one person he worships?”

What is the one thing that really matters to you the most? Is it a person in your life? Is it your career? Is it simply your comfort? How willing are you to sacrifice that to God if he asked you to?

2. A picture of God’s sacrifice of his Son

2000 years later, the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of his Son will be used as a picture of God’s amazing grace in the sacrifice of God’s only Son, Jesus. The Old Testament shadow is fulfilled in the reality of Jesus Christ. In offering up his life, Jesus mirrored Isaac who also offered up his. There are details in the passage that I won’t go into, but everything from “the third day” to the “wood” to the “mountain” is a foreshadowing of what will happen at Calvary 2000 years later. God was giving a picture of what he was willing to sacrifice because he loves us so much. As Isaac was precious to Abraham, Jesus, his Only Son was that precious to God, the Father.

In this New Testament fulfillment, we deepen our understanding of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son. In it, we see the work of the cross lived out in Abraham’s life, regardless of whether Abraham realized it or not. Now, looking back, we have a chance to have the work of the cross lived out in our lives in the same way it has in Abraham’s.

John 3

"¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"

As Abraham foreshadowed the events before the cross, by our own lives of grace and offering, we mirror the other side of the cross. The great event when God sent his Son to die for our sins is now reflected in our life of obedience, and in our willingness to give up what’s most important to us for the sacrifice of greater love.

We can preach the gospel, but how is that amazing, sacrificial love exemplified in our lives? We claim that God so loved the world, but in our lives, how much do we love? Sacrificial love is ingrained in the very depths of our new Christian nature, because that is what God is like, and that is what God is making our character to become. How does the God’s sacrifice of love compel you to make sacrifices out of a great love for him and others around us?

3. A desire to see obedience worked out

God didn’t need to test Abraham in order to know he was faithful. In God’s sovereignty and omniscience, all events are known and decreed by his will. But what God knows about Abraham, God wants to see that obedience worked out. You may know your child is absolutely brilliant, but it’s another to see him succeed in what he does.

God is glorified when faithful obedience occurs in our lives, even if that faithful obedience adds nothing new to his knowledge. The test may not have been a test to God, but it certainly was a real experience for Abraham as he wrestled with God’s commands.

Genesis 21

The journey to the place of sacrifice took three days. Scripture is silent on Abraham’s exact feelings, but we could imagine the anguish and ambivalence he felt at obeying God at the cost of risking his Son. Was this God truly worth that big of a risk, that big of a sacrifice? At the end of that struggle though, Abraham deliberately decided to obey.

We will constantly give up something we value in order to risk for his Kingdom. The foundation of passion is built on great and painful risks like these. For most of us, it’s not going to be automatic. The type of obedience that God looks for is not necessarily the blind obedience of simply doing for the sake of doing, but being willing to wrestle with what we must lose in order to gain what he promised.

But literally at the end of the day, Abraham concluded God was worth it. He had faith that God was worthy of this sacrifice. We may wrestle and we may struggle with something we hold with such value to us, but faith triumphs in the end. By offering up Isaac, his faith was manifested in what he did, and he showed what he believed by what he was willing to do.

Has there been a time when you wrestled and struggled with something valuable to you that was taken away? As Abraham concluded, did you conclude that God was the “one thing” worth more than anything you could give up?

James 2

Faith and Deeds

14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18Someone could say, "You have faith; I have deeds.

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do."

19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.

20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Part II: What is the relevance of this passage for Jewish monotheism

1. The One Thing we worship and follow

For many of us, the test may not be giving up a literal son, but it will be giving up things in our lives that we cherish deeply, and want deeply. First, the test reveals the one thing we worship and follow. We talked last week of Abraham’s faith in YHWH Elohim underlining Moses’ emphasis in Genesis. For thousands of years since the time of Noah, people of the world were mainly polytheists, except for that one obscure nation in the Middle East that stubbornly held onto monotheism. And for Abraham, and certainly for the Jewish readers traversing the great Sinai Peninsula, monotheism was certainly a novelty, at best.

Moses wanted a picture for the Jews to see what that faith looked like. For Abraham, his faith consisted of 3 things:

Faith in the worthiness of God – We believe God is worthy of the risks we take
Faith in the character of God – We trust God to care for us when we do take risks for his kingdom
Faith in the promises of God – We believe God’s promises are better than anything that is promised here on this side of heaven.

By faith, Abraham believed God was worth whatever it takes, even at the cost of sacrificing his former life, and later sacrificing his only Son. By faith, Abraham trusted God by doing whatever he said, even if it meant sacrificing the Son he loved. By faith, Abraham held to the promises of God by believing what God can promise him is worth more than anything he could ever sacrifice. This included any blessing that he would leave behind.

Deuteronomy 6

⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

Those were the three elements of faith that Moses wanted to convey to the infant nation of Israel as they will endure the harsh realities of polytheism in the land they’re about to enter. He exhorts them to love only YHWH Elohim, to whom Abraham loved even more than his own comforts, and even more than his own son. By offering up his son, he was following the first and greatest commandment. By sacrifice, he showed “the one thing” he truly loved the most.

It’s naïve to believe the problem of polytheism has been resolved simply because we live in a culture that assumes one deity. People are more polytheistic than ever. We worship money. We worship our careers. We worship our families. We love something more than we love God and we’re not willing to sacrifice it. That was the polytheism that Moses was fighting, and that’s the polytheism we are still fighting today. “To give up your other gods” was the prevailing message in Genesis. That test is applicable to us personally. Is there only one God that we are serving, or is something else our god that we are not willing to let go of?

2. The One Thing we are concerned over

Second, the test reveals the one thing we are concerned over, to which our hearts are wrapped around. For Abraham, his heart and concern was having a child to fulfill God’s promises. Recall last week, he was so concerned about having children, he resorted to sleeping with a slave woman and produced Ishmael, thinking the only way God can bless him was if he took things into his own hands. We do the same thing. Our concerns are what occupy our hearts.

Here, Abraham has changed. He has grown in his faith. He refuses to disobey God, even if the situation seems incomprehensible to him humanly. He trusts that God is sovereign and able to fulfill his promise even if he doesn’t completely understand how he can.

We believe in God’s sovereignty--that if he really wanted us to have something, we would have it. God is not a malicious God who taunts us with what we cannot have. Like a Father, he blesses us with what is truly needed. He gives what is truly needed to know him, and takes away what is not really needed. And we obey with a trust in his gracious love and the decisions he makes.

Luke 10:41-43

⁴¹“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴²but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

A parallel is drawn between the faith of Jewish and Christian readers during their time of suffering with the faith of Abraham. The direct audience, the Jews, would face great loss during their time in the Promised Land. They will be harassed, invaded, and destroyed. The question on the Jewish person’s minds is: Is this worth it? Is worship of God worth it since we are being destroyed as a result of it?

For Abraham, he voluntarily gave up his Son by faith. He didn’t need to force Abraham to take it away. He was already ready to give him up. By the same faith, we are ready to sacrifice and risk what we value, even when it is taken away involuntarily. But if God takes something away from us physically, we can still hold onto it with our hearts. The choice to let it go still comes by faith.

The early Christians however took this message of voluntary sacrifice. When they’re about to be martyred, they didn’t just see it as “giving up” their lives. They saw it as “offering it up” to God. We face the same challenge when we lose something valuable in our lives or if there’s something we really want but can’t have. We can see it as an opportunity to make it a voluntary offering to him, or be stubbornly bitter towards God, because we can’t have it.

What are your concerns? Has there been something that’s been ripped away from you? Was there something you really want in your life but can’t have? Can you struggle as Abraham did in making that object in your life an offering to God?

3. The One Thing we believe can satisfy us

Thirdly, the test reveals what we believe can satisfy us. The battle to give things up is the battle to believe God is the only one who can truly satisfy our deepest longings. We can’t find that in a job, in material possessions, or in a person. For Abraham, he believed he wouldn’t even be able to find it if he could have children. We believe only God, himself can satisfy.

At times, God may not wait for us to recognize the things that we turn to for satisfaction, before he takes them away. He does this both actively and passively; by forcefully removing those idols in our life, or simply letting those idols leave us. Either way, inevitably in the course of our faith, we stand to lose the things we cherish. Jesus didn’t say, “Follow me and take everything with you.” Instead, the imperative to follow him would involve the possibility of losing our family, our possessions, and our status. In spite of that, we believe Jesus alone can satisfy. We believe only he is needed.

John 9

²⁴A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

²⁵He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

²⁶Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

It’s not just about giving something up, but realizing in our hearts what’s truly needed in our lives. We have a choice to make the blessings we have an offering back to God—to know what he gives, he has the sovereign right to take away. And whatever he takes, and whatever he gives, we bless the name of the Lord as the one who has the authority in our life to give and take. That is the message of Abraham to the Israelites. Sometimes God has to rip the very things we hold dear to our lives in order to remind us to love him alone, to remind us he has the authority in our life to give and take from our lives. More importantly, it’s to remind us, he alone is needed.

Thus, it’s not about giving something up, and then you can have it. We need to conclude, no strings attached, that we believe we truly don’t need what we give up. But we don’t want to sacrifice, because we believe, if only we can get promoted, we’ll be happy. If only I have property I’ll be happy. If only, I get married, I’ll be happy.

God rewarded Abraham’s blessing, by reiterating his promise of many descendants. By Abraham showing that he does not make having children an idol in his life, he is now ready for God to bless him with it. What is one thing that God asks you to give up? As he gives and takes away, do we still bless the name of the Lord, or is it conditional on our circumstances?

Psalm 27

⁴One thing I ask of the LORD ,

this is what I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD

and to seek him in his temple.

Part III: How can we gain everything when we lose it all?

1. Recognizing the One Thing that hold us back from the prize

We need to recognize that one thing that holds us back from taking great risks. It’s like Satan’s trump card. You will always find an excuse to not take a risk, but worse to have something repeatedly hold you back.

While we see that God reiterated his blessing to Abraham only when Abraham demonstrated he would not idolatries the blessing, we have to be careful about making a “false offering” in order to manipulate God into giving what we want. It’s not about giving up a person in order to have that person. It’s not about giving up a job in order to get a job. It’s not about giving up money in order to get more money. You hear that type of “Health and Wealth” nonsense from Tele-evangelists, but that is simply not true.

Mark 10

The Rich Young Man

¹⁷As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

²⁰“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²²At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is[e] to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

²⁸Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”

²⁹“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

The reward of blessing is not getting what we give up, but the blessing of being in a relationship with Christ. When you spend and spend because you’re totally into a girl, you’re not counting your credit card bills and the amount of time you’re spending. It’s worth it to give it up, because you believe that girl is just that worth it. In the same way, knowing God is the “one thing” worth it.

God calls us to work hard and be diligent at our jobs, to be a good steward from 8-5, but to never make any career that "one thing." God calls us to love and cherish our spouses, to sacrifice for them, but to never make any person that "one thing." God calls us serve at Church, but to not even make ministry that "one thing." The goals we have are not bad, but often times it’s what holds us back. It’s okay to want companionship, it’s okay to want a house, it’s okay to want money, but when the pursuit and devotion to such things consumes us and becomes what we are looking for and living for in life, than we are no longer pursuing God, but just his gifts

We need to believe we can live in God’s blessing without these good things around us. We need to believe we can live in God’s blessing without lots of money. We need to believe we can live in God’s blessing without buying a house. We need to believe we can live in God’s blessing without children. We need to believe we can live in God’s blessing by being single. For many of us, those are the things we don’t want to give up. Those are the things we want, and we strive so hard to get. But, Jesus says one thing is needed. Do we really believe that?

In giving up Isaac, God still decided to give him back to him. But it’s not a guarantee that it will happen. We need to be willing to give it up and trust God’s character to give something back to us if he believes it’s good for us. For the early Christians, they gave up so much, and they didn’t sacrifice with any side-thought of going back to it. They gave it up because they believed God was worth more than anything they can lose.

For the Rich Young Ruler, riches held him back. Have you recognized the one thing that you holds you back from pursuing God relentlessly?

Phillipians 3

Pressing on Toward the Goal

¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

2. Carry the cross as Christ did

We are told we are united with Christ in his death, that in the same way he suffered, sacrificed, and died, we too will suffer, sacrifice, and die. Christ lived a risky life of great sacrifice, and that’s the same life that is imprinted onto our lives.

Our lives are a perpetual sacrifice—it is the cost of discipleship.

Luke 14

The Cost of Being a Disciple

²⁵Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters–yes, even his own life–he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, ³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

³¹“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

³⁴“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? ³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Our lives are a picture of the cross as Abraham’s life was a preview of the cross. And here, Jesus calls us to carry our own cross. We are not asked to carry his cross. We’re asked to carry our own. The grim warning was that as Christians we are to risk following him to the point where we’re willing to sacrifice their own lives, to love him more than to love living itself.

But, since we’re so comfortable, we complain about the little instances of discomfort in our lives—having to wait an extra few minutes at the supermarket, not getting that extra percent in our raise, having to deal with people at work. But Jesus doesn’t see that as too much discomfort. He sees it as too little discomfort! As disciples, we follow the route of our Savior, that in his life of discomfort, risk, and sacrifice, we should expect a life of the same.

Each of us has our own cross—a particular set of risks that God has set us to take. More specifically, we have specific things, or a “one thing” that we need to give up because we cherish that more than we do God. For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross and offered his life out of a conviction of great love and the promise of great reward.

We offer up the things in our lives out of that same conviction and promise. How specifically does God ask you to carry your own cross?

3. Hope in his resurrection

The author of Hebrews adds commentary to the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Hebrews 11

¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

The resurrection is the foundation of the New Testament hope, and hence our foundation of taking risks. We believe that Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our own resurrection from the dead in the life to come, that we will be raised to a life of blessing and glory that is incomparable to our present stage of life. We, therefore store up treasures for that future resurrection life, and live this present life of great sacrifice and great risk.

In the same way we are united with Christ in his suffering and death, we are also united with him in his resurrection-life. It is the resurrection-life that guides all of our sacrifices and risks. In Jesus’ resurrection, God demonstrates to us that he is able to transform whatever sacrifice we make into a blessing. We believe God will honor all our sacrifices, that even when we give up the “one thing” we treasure the most, we are in fact gaining much more in the life to come.

True sacrifice is not just about giving something up. It’s believing there’s something better in the future. You give up your town bicycle, because you believe a porsche is waiting for you--figuratively. For the joy set before us, we are willing to give up everything that is needed in the great pursuit of that “one thing” – that one and holy passion.

Hebrews 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Conclusion

There are the three things that we must confront and ultimately sacrifice up to God:

1. Money: Getting a large salary

2. Person: Finding someone, getting married, having children

3. Security: Being comfortable how you live

Genuine passion demands great risks, and great risks require great sacrifices. For Abraham, the risk he took was the sacrifice of his son. For us, the risk may be something of equal importance that we cherish in our hearts.

Once again, these blessings are not bad, and if God blesses you with it, than so be it. But God has every right to take away what he gives, and in the context of faith, at times, we will be confronted with giving something up for the sake of his Kingdom.

But we live a life of sacrifice not in vanity. Like Abraham, we have the hope in the resurrection. We believe whatever we give up now, we’ll receive a blessing that is incomparable to anything we could possibly give up on this side of heaven. That is the hope that drives our sacrifice. That is the hope that sustains our present risk for future reward.

Discussion Question: What is one thing you have trouble sacrificing to God?

Daylight Savings

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:12:27 GMT

The first week of Daylight Savings is also is turning out to be quite warm with the blazing sun out. Wasn't it just a week ago when it was freezing cold and cloudy in the morning? Southern California weather is really quite strange.

It appropriately coincided with the time-change. I suppose Daylight Savings would be rather fruitless if it stayed cloudy.

The clock tells me I should sleep now.