Sunday Night, May 15

This post will cover raw group discussion/teaching from Sunday May 15, as well as from the following Wednesday 6am meeting.

First of all, thanks for the new Guitar! I love working with it in service of the King. I took it out for some blues in the 'hood, last night, and I love how lightweight and clear-sounding it is. I will serve the Lord with it, and I will ENJOY it! Thanks to all the people who made that happen.

I'd also like to say right up that the way Bible discussions have been for the last month has been radical to me, as a teacher. I love not having to hold a Bible in my hand, relying on the group's knowledge of scripture for looking up the references. I think it is encouraging to people who come for the first time, seeing a whole crowd of people who are so "into" the Scriptures.

So, we looked at Ephesians 1:5. That was all we covered, since we started the Bible time at 9:25 at night. So much food time. So much singing. So worth the fatigue the next day. So sweet... (i've made myself tired for a thousand worse reasons without complaint)
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Ephesians 1:5-6 (New American Standard Bible)

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation


5He (A)predestined us to (B)adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, (C)according to the kind intention of His will,

6(D)to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in (E)the Beloved.
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So, first we dealt with the scandal of predestination. We attempted to simply define the term, in english--something we do far too seldom. We found it translated more dynamically in The New Living Translation (NLT):
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5His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us...
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So, we looked at the Prefix: "pre", defined it...
...and looked at "destined" and tried to define it... destiny... to arrange a destiny... to arrange a destination... to plot a course...

and pretty much the content of the discussion was that "predestination", here is talking about the arrangement, beforehand, of a destination, an arrival... cool.

...then we looked at what we are arranged/planned/destined to arrive...at...(my mom said never to end with a preposition...)
(...then we looked at that at which we are ...to arrive)
...and saw that it is:
ADOPTION as sons.

Adoption is always cool. It means that you were chosen. Whoever feels that adopted kids are less loved (you might if you are one) is just flat out missing that they are CHOSEN. Letting the Love and Grace of this chosen-ness eclipse our abandonment and neglect by our natural parents (the world, its system, its lord, satan) is key to freedom in the truth.

The word "Sons" here is cool, too. I encouraged any females who resent, or have trouble relating to masculine pronouns here to remember the specific privileges of the firstborn sons, relax, and exult in them. Besides, women are called sons, in the Bible, but the WHOLE CHURCH is called the Bride of Christ in the end, so we all end up girls in the end.

(anyone who says that the Christian Scriptures are rough on the female gender are DEAD WRONG. They accord incredible equality, no, privilege, to that sex, while dignifying and freeing women from the world's bondages and lies! It is the twisting of the truth that produces evil practises in what is falsely called the churches...)

We then looked into the nature of our relationship with God through this adoption THROUGH JESUS CHRIST (Eph. 1:5) TO HIMSELF...

By coming through Jesus to God in this adoption (a lifelong, binding covenant of family to the previously abandoned), we enjoy an awesome, face-to-face with the Father. He is now not only the God and Father of our Lord, He is ours. Jesus called him "abba", which doesn't mean as much the "daddy" that we say in america, as it does the "papa" it means in eastern europe. He is the Head of the family. He is in charge. he is in complete authority, rock solid, stern, strong... and in love with you so much that any time you come to him his face softens and shines...
Something about the chase for the american dream has rendered too many fathers in our age soft and useless as examples of this "papa-ness" of God. He is the Man. He's comin' 'round. He loves his children...

check out how Aslan, the lion of C.S. Lewis' books, interacts...

And we looked at this scripture:
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John 16:25-27 (New Living Translation)

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.


25"I have spoken of these matters in parables, but the time will come when this will not be necessary, and I will tell you plainly all about the Father. 26Then you will ask in my name. I'm not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf, 27for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God.
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...and saw that we now are with Him, through Jesus. We ask him face-to-face.

now the question was asked: "then what about praying to Jesus?"
I am solid on this one: "it totally rocks. don't quit."
Look at John 14:
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7If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is.[a] From now on you know him and have seen him!"

8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied."

9Jesus replied, "Philip, don't you even yet know who I am, even after all the time I have been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking to see him? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
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So, in a mystical/mysterious sense that transcends what we figure out with our heads, jesus is God. Don't worry about this stuff. Swim in it! Talk to Him. Listen to Him. Obey Him! Swim out, catch a wave, ride till you fall... (look out for sharks)

We looked at the Romans 8:15-18 scriptures that talk about sonship in Him, too:
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12So, dear brothers and sisters,[e] you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it[f] and its evil deeds, you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children[g] of God.

15So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family[h]--calling him "Father, dear Father."[i] 16For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. 17And since we are his children, we will share his treasures--for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
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Forsaking sin, following the Spirit (are you full of the spirit?)(do you follow the Spirit?) Are absolutely, absolutely, the upshot of the facts that Jesus and the Father are one. Ride, fall, paddle out, ride, fall, paddle out, ride, fall, paddle out! and CELEBRATE! bonfire on the beach at nightfall...
That's the church.

And you see how He is our father and we are his beloved children: privileged! Believe it! Drink it in! Swim in it! Dare to believe this--thoroughly--and you'll get filled!

And all this is by:
"...His great pleasure."
We serve a God, belong to a Father, who is GREATLY PLEASED by our ARRIVAL. Our arrival where? At the adoption! At the state of simply being after his longing--belonging!!!
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Colossians 1:26
This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to his own holy people. 27For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory.
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We looked at how this was so missed/hidden, but we now live in a time when our lives are "hidden with Christ in God" (col.3:1-3)
...and how that "hiddenness" is our blessing. to live as His children is our JOB/Role/Calling. This is our DESTINY/DESTINATION/ARRIVAL POINT... There is no other place to go/thing to do...

by the time we get to Ephesians 2, we are going to see how the world has had us all brainwashed to an idea of our adoption that isn't true.

Our conversation ended on this note:

If you're freaking out a lot because you are stressed about finding God's plan for you, relax. his plan is accomplished in you becoming His Child, through Christ Jesus. If you are worried about pleasing Him, relax and dare to believe that you ARE PLEASING TO HIM. THAT YOUR ADOPTION WAS HIS GOAL. The rest, you'll find in Ch.2, is all gravy...

This is a grace that will free us from sin, satan, fleshliness, fear... the world, the devil... everything... DIVE IN!