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Monday, 17 March 2008

Slowly Breaking Through the Daylight

I've kind of been a Coldplay fanatic this past week or so and one of the things that struck me was a lyric, well, actually the whole song did, but specifically this:
at full tilt and full flight,
defeat darkness, breaking daylight.
This lyric from the song Daylight on the album, a Rush of Blood to the Head, got me thinking about a really cool biblical concept. It got me thinking about the dawn of the new eschatological age. It has come with the advent of Jesus, " 28But if it isby the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, thenthe kingdom of God has come upon you.(Matthew 11:28, emphasis added)". Granted this evil age is still present because the fullness of God's kingdom hasn't been consummated yet, but, it has dawned and will be fully consummated. But the awesomeness of this is the fact that the future age of glory(redeemed, restored, recreated fully) is spilling over upon us now. The kingdom of God is pressing upon us right now, the strong man has been bound. It is so easy for me to lose sight of this because I feel as if nothing but darkness reigns in me and around me. That's not true. The reason I hate darkness is because God's light is pressing forth and shining upon me. It may be like yeast, or a mustard seed as it is small and may perhaps go unnoticed, but, it will grow and blossom and flourish because God is at the helm and He is on a mission. Just a lyric from a secular band, and an illustration from everyday life, God uses to stimulate and stir up faith in my discouraged, apathetic, pessimistic heart. God truly is tremendously good.

Thursday, 28 February 2008

Man, its been awhile

To be quite honest I finally caved under the barrage of e-mails I got from Xanga to come back. I've been wooed out of retirement. The reality is that I just don't have time to write weblogs anymore. I don't have a cushy job anymore where I can spend 4 hours a day doing whatever I please to do. Thus, no weblogs from Captain Winters over the last several months. Truth be told, I have a lot to say and write(just not the time) such as:
1.) seminary has been sensational for these such reasons:
a.) pastor's heart is being formed and shaped
b.) view of God and his drama of redemption have only gotten bigger. has expanded from a self-centric view of salvation to the reality that God is doing bigger things than just saving me. he is on a mission and redeeming and reconciling all things back to himself.
c.) also, we are not just observers of the drama of redemption but also participants as the people of God.
c.) how I read the bible has changed. The bible governs my understanding of God and what he is doing(my love for the bible has grown), not my dry systematic categories(if that last phrase didn't make sense that's ok...I'm pressing onto my last lesson right now)
d.) learning to take what the bible is saying and being communicated to the people of God in their enivironment in their time period but drawing out the same pastoral concerns as the biblical author had and applying it to the people of God now.
2.) Overall things are good and well. Have found a church home, marriage is good. Not to convey the fact that everything in my life is puppies and moonbeams but God is good and his mercy endureth forever.
shalom,
jeff
I'm bringing Xanga back - drop a comment if you're with me!

Tuesday, 19 June 2007

Theology Thoughts
I have bullet points:
- notice the relationship between glory and sin. What's inspired this is the passage in Romans 3:23, " for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". The word used for fall short connotes more of a "deficiency" or "lacking" the glory of God. In the same manner, that the wedding at Cana had a "lacking" of wine(same word used in the greek). And reading through Isaiah I have noticed this in many examples of how the glory of God and sin are contrasted " children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me...but Israel does not know my people do not understand" " ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity... they have forsaken the Lord they have despised the Holy One of Israel" " but rebels and sinners shall be broken together and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed"(Isaiah 1:2, 3, 4, 28). That was the first chapter. Seriously, go through and notice this. I am guessing that it is a theme throughout the bible not just Isaiah. Thus, my perspective and understanding of sin, righteousness is changed. I credit John Piper for this find.
- Realizing the nature and composition of faith. Noticing throughout the bible how the teaching of Paul and James weave together. How one is justified by faith but there is a character, fruit about it...otherwise its dead. I've been reading the works of Andrew Fuller( a b-day gift) and he compares it to a magnet. Faith is like a magnet. It connects you to God(the magnetization) but there are characteristics of the magnet like its red, small, etc. Interesting word illustration or analogy that has helped my understanding of faith and works.
- Thinking of the world like a mosaic. God's mosaic. And the reason that evil may exist under God's ordaining is because its all apart of the mosaic to display God's worth. In the evil segments of the mosaic we see the ugliness and horridness of turning from God and sinning but on the other segments we see the overflowing goodness of God. Thus, God uses all of which to showcase his worth, his value and his glory in the huge big picture or the whole mosaic. But when he zeroes in on a segment(evil) it grieves Him and he hates it(Ezk.18) but he loves the whole mosaic(Isaiah 46). This maybe helpful or maybe not. It has helped me. Credit Piper and Edwards for this.
That's all. Peace.
For now.

Friday, 15 June 2007

Summer Days

Its been a while since I have updated on this xanga biz, so, I figure it be best to write about something. I don't know yet but I will. I just got back from Mexico. You really appreciate the smell of the United States and the ability to throw toilet paper into the toilet after spending a little bit of time in Mexico. This makes it sound like I hated my time there. I didn't... it was a blast. An absolute blast. Spending time with our team, playing with the orphans, connecting with a whole 'nother body of believers whom I felt knitted together through the means of the Holy Spirit. The culture in Mexico was completely different as well(obviously)...everything was in Spanish. Fancy that! No, but in all seriousness aspects of the culture was very cool. They were much more lax on a lot of things. Near where we were staying there were no stops signs. Also, you would just see cars parked everywhere. No tickets. No nothin. Also, events would tend to run a little late by American time. Like church wouldn't start til 15-20 minutes later. Granted there are aspects that are good about this(no uptightness, getting upset over small things) but it spills over into not so good things(corruption, trash everywhere, etc.). I feel that God definitely expanded and stretched my understanding of who He is and how He is working all over the world. I have a feeling this is going to be a theme for the rest of my life.
Also, my wife and I have a new car officially. And the step or the countdown to moving to St. Louis is slowly or creeping towards a lower integer. I am excited yet nervous at the same moment. Simply because I have no clue what classes are going to be like. I did sit in on some classes but still I have no idea what it is going to be like--am I going to be overwhelmed or is it going to easy? is it going to be fun or is it going to feel like school? A lot more questions are running through my head but that is just a taste. Things are crazy it seems and I don't know if all ever feel settle in some sense. It always feels like I have something adult to do(go to the bank, pay insurance, bills, filling out loan, scholarship matters, mechanical stuff, etc.). Or maybe I am just some punk, spoiled, middle-class American boy who has been blessed immensely that anything seems to be "overload". I have running clean water for goodness sake. I have food in my refrigerator. We can pay rent. I just need to shut my mouth and thank God that his mercies are new every morning. I think this is good for now. Probably at some point I will have a post on what I have been thinking about theology-wise concerning faith in Christ. This isn't meant to be a tease. I really do have a lot on my mind and I would like to use xanga as a platform for my thoughts.
shalom,
jeff