singspiration after church was fun. no one there should have trouble remembering mr. byers' wheel or barko's peanut butter charades. it was amazing. little pantele plays better basketball than his older brother. at least he did tonight. he earned the nicname "spud pantele". if that makes no sense to you, look up who won the nba slam dunk contest in 1986. . .then check out his height.
i keep forgetting to mention that the new kid has been sporting a mohawk lately. spray it pink and she could show her attitude more effectively. mood swings were out in full force today, though she was an angel in the nursery tonight. workers told me that she was perfect all night long. false advertising i tell them. . .though she is wrapping me around her little finger. she is quickly becoming a daddy's girl. the wife is starting to get a little jealous. amazing that the kid has that much charisma. . .and still lacks attractive features (besides her beautiful blue eyes).
thoughts from the weekend
for a number of years i have been amazed at how many people believe they need to get cleaned up before they can come to church or make a decision for Christ. i used to think such a belief was impossible or at best an unlikely thought. apparently it is more widely held than i could've imagined. . .and i think i'm starting to understand why. . .at least a little bit. my thoughts on this subject started as i was teaching on exodus 19 to the 8th graders. God commanded moses to have the people cleanse themselves before He came to meet them on mt. sinai. then the thought struck me that the priests always had to cleanse themselves before offering sacrifices and the high priest had to cleanse himself thoroughly before going into the most holy place. yet, they weren't really clean before a holy God. they were, at best, filthy in His sight. but it represented the distinction between a holy God and an unholy people and God's attitude toward sin.
with Christ's death (and the subsequent ripping of the veil), believers may now enter freely into the presence of God, clean through Christ's righteousness. we did not have to clean ourselves to come to God, we had to be joined to Christ's cleanness.
so how could someone still think they needed to be clean first? here are the two ideas i have come up with so far. . .feel free to email me with any other suggestions:
1) man's pride tempts him to think he can do something about his guilty state.
2) man is blinded by a veil (2 corinthians 3:14-16) without Christ.
my pastor preached on this passage this morning (after i heard of someone who wants to start coming back to church, but thinks he needs to "clean up" first) and the idea of the veil seems to be connected to the old testament, which in light of their (old testament saints) relationship to God, makes sense. this goes along with the question, "could a man stranded on an island today with only the old testament get saved?" the answer is no, since there is more revelation today for him to respond to. . .and, likewise, with this new revelation, the old system should not be considered the standard. however, the idea of the veil seems to indicate a misleading or misunderstanding and not an informed decision. the need for the Illuminator is clear.
more later. . .
peace and java
i'm dave smith and i approved this message
