downpour...chapter 2

"There can be no personal revival without a right view of God."

"...your entire life revolves around your view of God."

"At the core of our sinfulness is our desire to usurp God."

"Yes, in all of us is a self-centered bent to get me up and to get God down. There will be no downpour until that sinful inclination is reversed."

"When God is humanized and man is deified, holiness is lost. Everything gets our of perspective. The first step in personal revival is to get God in His rightful place."

"When God is recognized as being above me, beyond me, highly exalted, over me, and totally separate from me, I am getting in position for a downpour."

"When I know God's place, I can know my place--then things start to fall into place".

"When God is recognized for the infinitely holy being that He is, you don't stand around questioning His decisions".

"God has deemed that the central, defining characteristic of His being--the word that is to be spoken in heaven, eternally and continuously, the characteristic around which all other aspects of God's nature revolve--is this: holiness".

"We can't come close to overdoing our expression of praise and worship. Sincere worship, given from the heart, is never over the top, or too much, because He is worthy".

More on Jesus' Lost Tomb...

Here are some additional articles on the "Lost Tomb" story from Baptist Press:

'Jesus tomb' documentary ignores evidence, logic, experts say

'Lost Tomb' is pure sensationalism, Mohler says on 'LKL'

Has the family tomb of Jesus been found?

And this from the Catholic News Agency:

‘Lost Tomb of Jesus’ documentary claims unfounded, hype, archeologist says

The Lost Tomb of Jesus?

The Discovery Channel plans to run a documentary entitled, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus", on March 4th. The opening paragraph from the shows promotional piece at DiscoveryTimes states,

"New scientific evidence, including DNA analysis conducted at one of the world's
foremost molecular genetics laboratories, as well as studies by leading
scholars, suggests a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the
remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family."

Now, if true, that's a startling statement! The documentary will suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child together named Judah. The article states,

"Five of the 10 discovered boxes in the Talpiot tomb were inscribed with names
believed to be associated with key figures in the New Testament: Jesus, Mary,
Matthew, Joseph and Mary Magdalene. A sixth inscription, written in Aramaic,
translates to 'Judah Son of Jesus.'"

The obvious conclusion that film director James Cameron is communicating is that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a relationship resulting in the birth of at least one son. Therefore, Jesus did not die on the cross. He did not rise again. He is not God. It's of interest that there were no bones found in any of the burial boxes even though there were three human skulls discovered. The original discovery of the tomb and the burial boxes was not seen as significant by the Israeli Anitiquities Authority at the time of discovery more than fifteen years ago since the names are extremely popular for the time period in which they lived. Amos Kloner who is the archeologist who oversaw the excavation project says that Cameron's conclusions are, "nonsense". According to Kloner, "It makes a great story for a TV film, but it's impossible. Jesus and his relatives were a Galilee family with no ties in Jerusalem. The Talpiot tomb belonged to a middle-class family from the first century." Kloner insists, "...the names found on the coffins had been found in tombs before"

So what do I think? "He is not here, but He has risen" (Luke 24:6).

You can read more at www.thisislondon.co.uk and at The Jerusalem Post.

downpour...chapter 1...

"Revival begins here: with a profound awareness of God's absolute holiness, our absolute sinfulness, and our complete inability to bridge the divide that separates us. Revival always begins with God reaching down to us--not in a trickle of blessing, but in a deluge of Himself that covers our past and welcomes us to begin again" (p18).

"The call to return to the Lord begins with the recognition that some things have to go" (p21).

"...there is no downpour without returning and there is no returning without repentance" (p22).

"If you want to experience a downpour of God's mercy, you have to come back to the place where the water flowed before" (p22).

"Everyone is converted by faith at a moment of time in some sort of crisis...'As you received Christ Jesus the Lord', Paul declares in Colossians 2:6, 'so walk in him.' The crises are not supposed to be left in the rearview mirror as we begin to grow in Christ. There needs to be a regular interval of turning and returning to the Lord where the chords of commitment that bind our hearts to His are tightened up again" (p24).

"Take it from me, if you've known Christ for three or four years, you probably need another crisis" (p25).

"When we talk of personal revival, we envision a passionate pursuit of the knowledge of the Lord" (p31).

"Pressing on to know the Lord means waking up and giving that pursuit everything you have" (p31).

"Why does God approve pain's intrusion into our personal experience? God is trying to bring about another crisis...Whatever the particular point of pain is, the circumstance you would most change, the unwanted source of shock and sadness that you beg God to reverse or sesolve...God has a purpose for that pain. And it will not go away until the reason for its arrival has been completed in you. Worse, when God has finished His work in that part of your life, He will move on to another area He wants to change in you. God is relentless in His pursuit of us. His love is not a pampering love; it's a perfecting love. The pathway to revival is through pain" (p34).

"God would rather see you anywhere else than living in rebellion and resistance to His will. Once you come to the cross of Christ, God's will for you is your sanctification. If you're not advancing in that process, God will take you to some awful places so that His purposes in you might be accomplished" (p38).

"God would rather see us in a world of hurt than not be the prize of our highest affections. God is willing to do whatever it takes to bring us to that level of relationship" (p39).

I never thought I would see this...

I was walking through the base exchange today at Buckley Air Force Base in Denver and what did I see? The brand new "Your Best Life Now" Game. My first reaction was laughter...followed by a brief search for hidden cameras. I'm still not sure if this a case of marketing gone ary or if it perhaps is a great innovative ministry idea. What do you think?

Here is a review of the game that I found HERE.

downpour...

I have just begun reading "downpour" by James MacDonald. It is subtitled, "an encounter with God that will soak you with joy". For the next several days, I want to publish what I consider to be the most interesting quotes out of each chapter.

Introduction

"I believe that life is too short to waste time reading or writing books that only entertain. This is a book to change your life" (p1).

"This is a book about personal revival" (p4).

"Revival is renewed interest after a period of indifference or decline" (p5).

"Revival is not long lines of anxious sinners waiting for a turn at the microphone to reveal their most secret sinful something. That's not revival. Revival is not emotional extravagance..." (p5).

"The Bible does not invite us to seek a revival, ask God for a revival, or pray that revival will come" (p5).

"...we don't have control over moves of God that affect entire cities or regions. What we can affect is the experience of 'being revived' personally" (p6).

"Don't attempt to be revived if you have never been 'vived' in the first place" (p.6).

"Revival involves an increased hunger for and delight in God's Word after a difficult season of life" (p7).

"Revival involves a disdain for sin and renewed desire for obedience to God" (p7).

"Revival brings increased commitment to and interest in personal prayer" (p7).

"Revival is: God, gladly at the center of my life, experienced and enjoyed" (p7).

"If enjoying a happening relationship with God were easy, everyone would have one" (p8).

Hispanic Seminary Classes at Cornerstone...

Cornerstone will have the honor of hosting seminary classes for hispanic pastors in the area beginning in a few weeks. Our church will be one of two sites in Colorado where this training is offered. You can read more about it here. At present there are 30 students statewide who are registered--10 of which who will be attending classes at Cornerstone. The training is being provided by Bautista Universidad de las Americas (BUA), a Southern Baptist seminary in San Antonio, Texas. Most of our hispanic pastors in Colorado are bivocational and would not otherwise have the opportunity to recieve theological training in Spanish.