Lego My Jesus

Last week a church in Stockholm Sweden unveiled a statue of Jesus that took a year and a half to construct. The statue stands around 5.8ft tall and is made up of nearly 30,000 Lego's! I can't even imagine the planning, time and patience it must have taken to put together something so involved.

After reading this story two things came to mind. First let me say that I don't know anything about this church. I can only assume that they love Jesus, the Bible and are serving their community and Gods leads them to.

With that said, the first thing that came to mind was the idea of building a statue. What kind of statues am I constructing day in and day out? Were all busy but are we so busy that we make statues or gods out of things in our lives. This happens every time we put something else before Jesus and that something then becomes our god. Our time devotion and energy gets poured into that thing and it's eventually what we live for and not Jesus.

This brings me to my second thought. How much time am I investing in Jesus? Am I putting so much of Jesus into my life that people can actually see him take shape in my life? Additionally, what am I doing to help others to develop a lasting, deep meaningful relationship with Jesus?

So think about it. What or who are you devoted to? What or who are you investing in? And finally what are you doing to help others to come into a relationship with Jesus?

Some Thoughts on Mark

Over the last several weeks in our weekly men's Bible study we have been going through the book of Mark. We just finished Mark chapter six, so we will be in Mark for some time to come.
So far there have been many things that have struck home with me, but there seems to be a few things that constantly come up.
First is that Jesus and his disciples worked and served like crazy sometime without even time to eat. However after the work at hand was done they would try to get away to rest and prepare for the next go around. I say try to get away because even when they did arrive to the destination of rest, there was always a multitude of people waiting to be taught, healed or looking for something to eat.
Secondly, Jesus, no matter how much he ministered to people and no matter how tired he was, he was always moved with compassion on the crowed that gathered around him. It's almost as though he can't not serve people.
The last observation has to do with the disciples. They just didn't get it! No matter how many people Jesus fed, healed, or even raised from the dead his disciple still did not understand who Jesus was. Often Jesus did get on their cases for not getting this. Their lack of faith hindered them from being and doing all Jesus had for them.
Take a few minutes and read the first six chapters of the book of Mark, look for these and other observations and think about how they might apply to you.

In Our Place, For Our Sins

The death of Christ and what he accomplished on the cross should always be on the minds of those of us that call ourselves Christians. The fact the Jesus died in our place for our sins and that in him we have redemption through his blood (Ephesians 1:7), is something we should never get over. Sadly many Christians only think of the atoning work of Jesus on or in the days leading up to Easter. Daily we sin and daily we need to be asking for and repenting of that sin. Thankfully the blood of Jesus was enough to cover all the sins of man and his one time death on the cross did just that.
The video below was put out by Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA last year leading up to their Good Friday services. It's a short but powerful video of the innocent death of Jesus.

It's NOT Just For Kids

Psalm 23
¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
²He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
³He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

I know that's not all of Psalm 23 but it's the part I heard this morning. You see, the second Sunday of every month I minister to and serve all the 2 & 3 year old kids in their Sunday school class at my church.

Well, the last few weeks we've been helping them to memorize Psalm 23. Some have it memorized better than others, but they're all trying. It's rather funny to hear a 2 year old try and say "paths of righteousness" without it coming out as a jumbled mess. The point is, their hiding Gods word in their hearts!

How many of us as adults expect this of our children, but then we ourselves don't take the time to read,study, meditate and memorize Gods word. We know that it's important otherwise we wouldn't care if our kids did it or not. It's just another case of "do as I say not as I do". We need to follow Jesus' example in the wilderness. Have Gods word in our hearts so that when trails and temptations come we're able to overcome them by the power of Gods word.

The Soil of Your Heart

In Mark chapter four Jesus tells a multitude of people, along with his disciples, the parable of the sower. In the parable he describes four different types of soil that a seed can fall into and what can happen to that seed given the soil that the seed finds itself in. In case you've not read it or if it's been a while since you have read it, let me take a minute to bring you up to speed.
First let me start with the seed. Jesus uses the seed to represent the gospel and the sower to represent anyone preaching the gospel. This could be a pastor, Sunday school teacher, missionary, or evangelist. Whom ever is rightly proclaiming the gospel.
Then comes the four types of soil. The soil is being related to the type of heart that a person might receive the gospel with. The first type of soil is one that does not even receive the seed. The second is soil that receives it but has no depth, so it is quick to wither. The third type of soil is soil that also consists of many thorns or weeds. The seed in this soil grows, has some life, but does not produce grain. It is eventually choked out by the thorns or weeds. The fourth and last type of soil that Jesus describes is soil that is good and fertile. The seed grows, increases and multiplies itself.
As Christians we need to always monitor the soil of our hearts. All too often thorns and weeds can creep in and begin to choke the life out of our Christian life and we soon become a Christian that produces nothing. Psalm chapter one reminds us that a Christian is like a tree planted by streams of water that produces fruit. For a tree to produce fruit well it needs to be pruned and kept free of dead and diseased branches.
Are there branches in your life that are keeping you from bearing fruit? Do you need to be pruned? Have you let the soil of your heart become infested with weeds that are choking the life out of you? If so, then ask God to show you what you need to prune or dig out of you life to help make you become fruitful once again. Remember, a weed will not come back if it's pulled out root and all. So while the process might be painful, it's always profitable.

Gods Creativity in Prime Time

I don't like the cold, in fact I hate it. So because I live in Michigan I tend to stay indoors a lot from about mid November until mid to late march. Beside hanging with the family, working out and working on which ever home project that is taking longer than expected, I love to watch TV. Not just any type of TV show, but something where I might actually learn something while being entertained.
My go to networks are usually Fox News Channel, Discovery Channel, The History Channel, The Travel Channel, or Food Network. That list is in no particular order, it's just order I know them in because of where they fall in my particular cable package.
Anyway, the show that I've really gotten into has been "Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations" on The Travel Channel. In the show, the host Anthony Bourdain, goes around the world introducing his audience to many different cultures. From food to religion and climate to world view. It really is a great show.
Though Anthony may not realize it, he is also introducing his audience to the creativity of our heavenly father. When I watch the show I'm always amazed to see some of the weird and awesome things God has created. We truly worship an amazing God!
If you have not seen the show, go ahead and check it out, you'll be glad you did.

Leading By Example

Here is a clip from the ABC News show "Nightline" from this past Tuesday evening. They were doing a segment titled "Faith Matters" and chose to feature one of my favorite churches and pastors in America. Mars Hill Church is located in Seattle WA. and is lead by Pastor Mark Driscoll. Say what you want about his style, which I happen to like, Mark has got to be one of the best Bible teachers and church leaders out their. To find out more about Pastor Mark and Mars Hill Church, check out his blog or visit the churches website.