Louie Giglio's How Great Is Our God

For small group we are reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  As I started reading it, I was reminded of this really neat presentation by Louie Giglio.  It's in 5 parts and if you've never watched it, well, you are in for a treat!

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

Colossians 2:6-23

I don't very often read from the Message, but occasionally find it to be a helpful aid.  Colossians 2: 6-23 is one of those examples.  Read it below and see if it doesn't stop you in your tracks and make you think. Such a good message at this particular time of year.  Jesus has done the necessary work for us to be admitted into the Kingdom.  We don't need fancy degrees or titles to spread the Gospel.  We only need the faith He has given us.  We can study His Word our entire lives (and should) but at some point we need to share what we've been given.  Trust Him to supply the words in each and every situation.

 Below the Message version is the ESV version.  God bless you!

 ^6-7My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
 ^8-10Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
 ^11-15Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
 ^16-17So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
 ^18-19Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.
 ^20-23So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.

^6(K) Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ^7(L) rooted and^(M) built up in him and^(N) established in the faith, just^(O) as you were taught, abounding^(P) in thanksgiving.
 ⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by^(Q) philosophy and^(R) empty deceit, according to^(S) human tradition, according to the^(T) elemental spirits^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For^(U) in him the whole fullness of deity dwells^(V) bodily, ¹⁰and^(W) you have been filled in him, who is^(X) the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹In him also^(Y) you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by^(Z) putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ^12(AA) having been buried with him in baptism, in which^(AB) you were also raised with him through faith in^(AC) the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ^13(AD) And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God^(AE) made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴by^(AF) canceling^(AG) the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ^15(AH) He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[b] and^(AI) put them to open shame, by^(AJ) triumphing over them in him.^[c]

Let No One Disqualify You

 ¹⁶Therefore let no one^(AK) pass judgment on you^(AL) in questions of food and drink, or with regard to^(AM) a festival or^(AN) a new moon or a Sabbath. ^17(AO) These are a shadow of the things to come, but^(AP) the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Let no one^(AQ) disqualify you,^(AR) insisting on asceticism and worship of angels,^(AS) going on in detail about visions,^[d](AT) puffed up without reason by^(AU) his sensuous mind, ¹⁹and^(AV) not^(AW) holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
 ²⁰If with Christ^(AX) you died to the^(AY) elemental spirits of the world,^(AZ) why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ^21(BA) "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" ²²(^(BB) referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to^(BC) human precepts and teachings? ²³These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in^(BD) promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are^(BE) of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Friendship

So many times we meet another Christian and we are blown away.  They are everything WE want to be - or so we think.  They may be cheerful all the time (or so we think); always polite (or so we think); fluent in the Word (or so we think); free of sinful behavior (or so we think); accepting of all (or so we think).  You get the drift.  And maybe there are a few Christians out there that come close to this.  Perhaps they have been on their journey a long time and perhaps God has done a great work in them.  But most of the time it's our own imagination that has created their greatness.  And so we try hard to be just like them.  We want to be their best friend in order to mimic everything about them.  Until something happens that brings them tumbling off that pedestal we put them up on.  And our own world crumbles a little or a lot on that day. But the point I want to make is that the opposite can be true, too.  While we are so busy racing with others to be around those who are admired by all, we often ignore and push aside those who need our friendship even more.  The less admired, the less "worthy" in our minds.  The ones who are hurting, lost, confused, shunned.

Instead of admiring the "perfect Christians" and trying so hard to be like them, let us admire and mimic the One who IS perfect.  The One who will NEVER let us down or topple off His throne.  And remember how he loved ALL his brothers and sisters the same.  Were they all different?  Absolutely.  And did one of them, in our opinion, deserve less love and friendship?  Most likely.  Yet, as Max Lucado illustrates below, Jesus was his friend to the end.  Now that is an example to follow. 

Jesus Betrayed by Judas

by Max Lucado

When betrayal comes, what do you do? Get out? Get angry? Get even? You have to deal with it some way. Let’s see how Jesus dealt with it.

Begin by noticing how Jesus saw Judas. “Jesus answered, ‘Friend, do what you came to do.’ ” (Matthew 26:50)

Of all the names I would have chosen for Judas it would not have been “friend.” What Judas did to Jesus was grossly unfair. There is no indication that Jesus ever mistreated Judas. There is no clue that Judas was ever left out or neglected. When, during the Last Supper, Jesus told the disciples that his betrayer sat at the table, they didn’t turn to one another and whisper, “It’s Judas. Jesus told us he would do this.”

They didn’t whisper it because Jesus never said it. He had known it. He had known what Judas would do, but he treated the betrayer as if he were faithful.

It’s even more unfair when you consider the betrayal was Judas’s idea. The religious leaders didn’t seek him, Judas sought them. “What will you pay me for giving Jesus to you?” he asked. (Matthew 26:15) The betrayal would have been more palatable had Judas been propositioned by the leaders, but he wasn’t. He propositioned them.

And Judas’s method … again, why did it have to be a kiss? (Matthew 26: 48–49)

And why did he have to call him “Teacher”? (Matthew 26:49) That’s a title of respect. The incongruity of his words, deeds, and actions—I wouldn’t have called Judas “friend.”

But that is exactly what Jesus called him. Why? Jesus could see something we can’t...

Jesus knew Judas had been seduced by a powerful foe. He was aware of the wiles of Satan’s whispers (he had just heard them himself). He knew how hard it was for Judas to do what was right.

He didn’t justify what Judas did. He didn’t minimize the deed. Nor did he release Judas from his choice. But he did look eye to eye with his betrayer and try to understand.

As long as you hate your enemy, a jail door is closed and a prisoner is taken. But when you try to understand and release your foe from your hatred, then the prisoner is released and that prisoner is you.

Commitment

com·mit·ment  [kuh-mit-muh nt]    a pledge or promise; obligation

As Christians in the 21st century, we are faced with major commitment problems.  We are over-committed in many ways and under-committed in others.  We commit to running the kids around, working long hours, living the American dream and trying to outdo and outlive our peers.  We do not commit to serving our Lord, supporting our church and seeking the truth.  Our attempts are pathetic and scattered.  Maybe some of us are avid church goers.  Others may pray now and then.  And some may read devotions.  But is this what Jesus called us to do?  Weren't we called to SACRIFICE?  When was the last time you made a true sacrifice for Christ?  And yet this is how we are called to live DAILY.  

 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”  Joshua 24:15

Our commitment should be only to God.  Any other commitment is to a false idol.  We should be commited to seeking His will, truth and words.  Evaluating our situation should be a regular practice.  If something or someone is taking us away from the Lord or causing us to not seek His will or the truth, then turn from that source. It doesn't need to be complicated - the questions are simple - Does this (thing or person) bring me closer to the Lord?  Does it (or he/she) perpetuate truth?  Does it (or he/she) cause me to sin?   We must not assume that we are able to withstand sin without corruption.

 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”    1 Corinthians 15:33

My Colors

Do we know what it means to be a living sacrifice? Read this statement by a young African pastor. Found among his papers in Zimbabwe after he was martyred        I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His and I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.      My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.      I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.      My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.      I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.      I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.      I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.      I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!