Don't make him stand up!

In context this phrase makes me shutter with every fiber of my being. My teacher and mentor Casey Hearn had us study a wonderful passage Hebrews 10. It deals with sacrifices in the Old Testament being repetitive and only a temporary. Then as Christ comes as a perfect sacrifice, He does it once and for all. No longer is there a need for a sacrifice. The step that happens next is what I want to talk about. In verse 12 "But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God" (ESV) Read it for your self....he sat down! I realize that seems a bit odd that I'm excited about Christ sitting down at the right hand of God. My reasons for being excited are as follows: He is done with his work as far as the payment for sin, That is where he currently is, He is waiting. Waiting? For what? Wrath and Judgement is what he is waiting for. What we see in scripture is that when Christ returns it is going to be for his Church and to deal with sin once and for all. Now that we know what his is going to do, lets take a look at the Current place of Christ. As we see in Hebrews 10:12 he is seated at the right hand of God. For us that is great news! Here is why. Christ being currently seated is a act of Grace! That's right I said it Grace. It is Grace because Christ has not come yet to judge sin once and for all. It is Grace because that means there is still time for us to share the Gospel. Many times we consider Grace this thing you get one time at the point that you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. The truth is that it is so much more. God pours out Grace and Mercy for us every day, it is like a fountain that never ends. Yet there remains a reality that God, in his Sovereign Good Pleasure has a day appointed that Christ will return to take home his bride and judge sin. As I shared this idea of Christ being seated as a act of Grace, Casey said during our discussion "Don't make him stand up!"( As if anything I did would ever make Christ stand up. I do realize that in Acts 7:55 Jesus was standing to receive Steven as he was being Martyred. )The only thing I could think of is the Theological implications of Christ standing up and stepping down preparing for battle. It will be with Power and Wrath in Righteousness. There is no running, no hiding, no escape from the Judgement of God. I can only approach such a thought with Fear and Trembling. In the mist of the thought there is also hope and triumph for those that have trusted him. The hope in the end of suffering and sins reign in this mortal body. Possibly the only word to sum up what this thought really means is intense. That includes both the intense love of God and the intense wrath of God.

The Christain life through the eyes of a Black Smith.

If you didn't know, I have taken up a new hobby. It is being a Black Smith. I enjoy it so much, I get to play with fire and metal, with sweat and strength as I mold metal into what ever I desire. I have had fun learning about how it all works and make useful tools and knives, on rare occasion something decorative. As I have learned and worked, I have seen a few similarities in the Christian life and working with the Metal. Just as the parable is about the potter and the clay.....I see God as the Black Smith and us as the metal. The first part of smiting that you need to know is how to pick the metal for the purpose. They all contain carbon and it is boned with different elements to make a metal. Just like Metal we are all made in the image of God and bonded with different abilities and skills to allow us to do different things. In case you didn't know not all metal will work for the same purposes. For example Aluminum has a lower melting point and is very good for casting, but iron has a much higher melting point and works better for making tools. Just like that we are different and gifted in different ways which makes us better for one job or another. The second step is to proceed with the plan that you have for the metal. It takes a bed of coals, very hot coals. You know the things we know as trials and test. Only when the metal is hot enough can it begin to be molded. Then comes the action...the hammer and the anvil. As the metal starts to be molded a scale starts to fall of these are the impurities in the metal. A Black Smith must constantly clean to get the scale off. After a time the metal become cold again and must be heated again and again as it is being molded. Sometimes it takes hundreds of hours to get something to perfectly fit its purpose. The metal may be punched ( make a hole in it), bent, and usually cut off....the metal that does not fit the purpose. Once the metal is in the basic shape that is desired it is then quenched in oil or water. It helps to harden that shape. Maybe even used for one purpose at that time, then reheated and made into something else entirely. I have felt like that so many times in life.....one purpose at one point in time, then being molded into something different for a different task. After the Smith is satisfied with the tool, he may choose to temper the metal. It is a process of throwing it back into the fire until it glows yellow. At that point he lets it air cool in order to let the carbon realign its self, this makes the metal much harder and more resistant to breaking or changing. Now to a different option that a Black Smith has making Damascus Steel. Sounds cool and it is. It is a process that I see much like the church. It was started to save money by combining more expensive and cheaper metals to save money. The end product was much better than expected. The metals were layered and forge welded together to make one piece of metal. Metals like Nickel and iron just as an example. The process made some of the sharpest swords they had ever seen. It is because it combined the properties of both hard and soft metals. Scientifically it made more microscopic saw blades and thus more efficiently cuts. 
Here in my new favorite Black Smith quote "I'm a Wordsmith, it's kinda like a BlackSmith just without the fire and Anvil and stuff."

Oh the things I learn......

As a blog post for this month, I would like to give a few of the lessons I have learned in life.
1. The surpassing Holiness, Love, and Mercy of a Great Savior.
2. The vast depravity of who I am as a sinful man, likely to rebel, choose second best, and to seek the very things which would seek to destroy me.
3. Which leads me to understand even more how much I need a Holy, Loving, and Merciful Savior and how much that time with him really means.
4. Wise people really are those who learn form the mistakes of others and even many of their own.
5. Love is one of the most beautiful things that God has ever created. It is strong and fast, it comes and it goes, and for that very reason we should love with all we have.
6. There is no more amazing or awesome or worshipful moment, then when you see a soul pass for death to life @ the moment that someone accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
7. There are few things that  irritate me like mindless Legalism, You would not belive how many people I have had talked with that about.
8. Open and Honest answers always get you further in conversations than just telling someone "you just need to have faith."
9. When God calls you to something, he might ask you to jump of a cliff in a spiritual sense, but he always is there to supply what needs arise. Examples for me are Bible collage and my Kenya trip, and I know that he is able to do it all over and over again
10. I have been gifted with unique abilities that allow me to do so much fun stuff.......I just have this thing about finding answers and learning about things. I know that some of it I will probably never use, but hey. If I need that information about things they are there.
11. Times of hardship and trials are the things that will test you and tell you character of who your are and who those around you really are.
12. Friends are some of the most influential people in your life, so choose them wisely. Along those same lines.....your mentors might actually know a thing or two about life.
13. Life is short.....I mean I have grey hairs already.....lol.
14. Proverbs 31 really is the best standard for a woman......at least for a good one.
15. Hurt, Pain, Loss and Deviation are a universal language, but so are Hope, Love, and Compassion.
Oh, I could go on and on, but it could be a very very long list. The cool thing about it, is that I continue to learn and God continues to teach.