Taking inspiration from Reformed Pope's recent study on Matthew 5-7 (BTW, Pope, when are we gonna get some more of that?), I thought maybe we could do the same thing with John's Gospel, which is most people's favorite anyway.

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (NASB)

One of the most familiar verses in the Bible, I suppose, at least to believers.

"In the beginning"

The words remind us of Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God…."

The beginning…a tough concept to wrap the mind around.

I mean, what "beginning" is this? The beginning of the earth? The beginning of the universe? The beginning of heaven itself, wherever that is? I suppose one could say that the beginning goes back to eternity itself. 

Um, whenever that was.

My "beginning" was at Emmanuel Hospital, in Portland, Oregon, in 1957. Which may seem long ago to someone in their 20s, but 50 years is really nothing in comparison to a couple of thousand years, and is a mere blip on the scope in comparison to a million years. Or a billion. Or a trillion. Or a "goolgolplex," which is the largest officially named number, consisting of a one followed by a thousand zeroes.

Whenever this "beginning" was, it had to be eons and eons ago.

"was the Word,"

The Greek scholars say that this verb "was" means something like, when you go back to whenever (and wherever) the beginning began, this Word was already there, and had been there. Forever.

Kind of like backtracking a trail which leads up a mountain. When you finally get to the top, you look out into the haze and see that you're not at the beginning of the trail at all, but that it extends back from where you are, way out beyond to a mountain in the distance where your eyes can barely even focus. So, you hop back into your Land Rover and drive back to that mountain. When you get there, you find the trail continues on past it to a another mountain in the blurry distance. So, off you go, again. When you finally arrive at that one, you find the same thing…the trail goes on and on, as far as the eye can see. You notice the gas gauge is perilously close to "E," as opposed to "F," and begin to suspect that you will never get to the beginning of this trail.

In other words, there really is no specific time when the Word started or began. It just always — and already — was.

"Word" is the familiar Greek term logos, which describes the communicating of the meaning of a thought. So, the Word here is revealing someone's thoughts. Whose?

"and the Word was with God,"

Okay, so we now see the Word is in connection with God. "God" is theos in the Greek, from where we get the word theology, which literally means,"words about God," or "God-words."

So, the Word is the one who communicates or reveals God's thoughts. Sounds simple enough.

"and the Word was God."

Here's something a bit perplexing…how can the Word be with God and also be God, all at the same time?

Well, if you could explain that to the satisfaction of all, I suppose you could probably unite all world religions, and get rid of those pesky Muslims. The thought in the original is that whatever God was, and is, the Word was, and is, the same thing.

And don't let those Jehovah's Witnesses tell you that the Greek should say "the Word was a god." That's not only baloney, but violates Greek grammar as well.

And, which goes to show that some people will try anything in order to stuff their pre-conceived, pet doctrines into the Bible. Even going so far as to create their own version of the "original" Greek text, called the "Emphatic Diaglott," which all Greek scholars outside of the JW movement know is a joke.

Still though, I wonder how many of our doctrines, what we believe, are contrived, and not really biblical at all? Which we hold with great fervor and pride.

I remember one occasion, long ago, when I was defending that wonderful "doctrine" (theory) of Dispensationalism, and the whole discussion almost ended up devolving to the point of fisticuffs. "If I have to, I'll beat my doctrine into you." Great witness there, Mr. Christian. Didn't even know I was wrong, until years later.

Which makes me worry…if any — and if so, how many— of my current beliefs are wrong now?

Thoughts?

-joebib

In the Power thread Dan Wood posted the following:

Mark 9:42 made some insightful comments last month asking whether an abusive church leader can be restored and whether being restored meant to fellowship and/or leadership.

I am interested in … [discussing] … such questions as Mark 9:42  has posed and related questions about how to prevent recurring abuse, how to prevent abuse in the first place, and how to deal with abuse that has occurred.

We can't offer a face to face meeting as Dan originally requested, but surely we can throw some ideas around about how abuse can and should be addressed in a church situation.

The rules are simple, keep it civil, remember it's brothers and sisters we're talking with. I'd hate to have to thump someone.

Any ideas?

I'm curious, did the Washington Huskies stop coming to genchurch or did Judah Smith lose his anointing?  I of course ask this because the Huskies have lost 5 in a row and got dominated last night by the mighty Oregon Ducks. It looked like U of W sent out a JV squad…seriously people…look at this line:

One of the key words in the life of the believer in Christ is “faith.” Faith occurs some 400 times in the King James Version of the Bible. We come to Christ by faith.  In faith, we believe He forgives our sins. We are commanded to have faith. To live by faith. To walk in faith. We read of little faith. Of great faith. Of being full of faith. Of empty faith. Of faithlessness.

Faith, faith, faith.

But, have you ever wondered about the true nature of faith and what it really means?  Most Christians I know would probably say something along the lines of, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, NASB). A good, biblical answer. But, what does that mean, exactly? Is faith something you must seek, or do you already have it? Is it difficult to find? Or, is it not so difficult to find, as it is difficult to have and keep? Why do some people seem to have so much of it, and others of us don’t?

All of this leads me to share something the Lord has been dealing with me about recently, about having faith in my life. Not faith as in the Christian Faith, or as in having faith in Jesus as my Savior. But, faith as in trusting in God in the midst of a difficult situation.

This fall, my oldest son has been finishing up his last year at PBC. He has a real burden for the lost, and so one day, a few weeks ago, he informed me of his intention to go and spend some time among the homeless people around the Burnside Bridge, in downtown Portland. Just reach out to them, maybe give them some clothes he no longer used. He wanted to get to know what these people had to go through living there, and try to share the Gospel with them, and was wondering what I thought about the idea.

Well, there’s nothing like getting out of one’s sheltered environment and seeing the real world up close and personal, so I told him I thought he should go ahead. Why not? It sounded like a good idea…that is, until he mentioned he was planning to do this for an entire three days and three nights. Hold on a minute! Spend every night there? Live there? Out of contact with everyone? No cell phone? No nothing? Just like one of them?   

Needless to say, I was aghast! Now the idea was terrible, and I began to panic. My son can be rather stubborn at times (gets it from his mom), and once he gets an idea into his head, there is pretty much no convincing him otherwise. So many thoughts began to race through my mind, as I strived to somehow convince him of the folly of this.   

What exactly would he be doing there?

“Nothing in particular, just hanging out with them.” 

Would he be taking any money?

“No, what for?”

Well, how would he eat?

“The same way they do.”

Where would he sleep? 

“The same place they do, right on the ground.”

What if you get cold?

“They get cold every night.”

Did you talk to your teachers about this? (Good one, Dad!)

“Yep, they’re all for it.” (Thanks a lot, guys!)

What if something happened?

“Like what?”

Well, what if you were attacked?

“Look Dad, don’t worry, the Lord will take care of me.”

Yeah, I know, but….

I heard the voice of God, echoing in my mind…..“Yeah, but what? Don’t you trust Me?”

So, what could I do? — I gave him my blessing — since he was going to do it anyway. And I then proceeded to fret and worry for the next week, hoping he would change his mind. When the dreaded day he was to go down there finally arrived, I was just a mess, wasn’t sleeping well, my stomach was upset 24-7, all the time thinking about what could happen to him. I watched the clock constantly. “What’s he doing now?…it’s getting dark…the Portland weather report says rain…Lord, why is he doing this?…maybe he’s in trouble…Lord, help him…I hope he brought warm clothes…what will he eat?…maybe he’s getting beaten up right this very instant!…OH LORD!”

So, for three long days — and even longer nights — I went through sheer torture. Those with children can probably imagine what it was like for us. We prayed like never before, we fasted, we worried.  I couldn't concentrate on even the simplest of tasks, and my mind wandered constantly, to thoughts of my son. And finally, after 72 hours of agony, on the third night when he was supposed to be done with it and back at the dorms, I started calling his cell phone. I must have called him 20 times, praying he would answer. When at last he did, I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and asked him how it went.   

He said, “What are you talking about?”

How were the three days under the Burnside Bridge?

“Dad, I’m not going until tomorrow!”

You've got to be kidding me! I had gotten the dates mixed up! I closed my eyes and prayed “No…no…Lord…I can’t handle going through that again.”  

Well, to fast-forward to the end of the story, he made it through just fine. Stuck to it for the entire three days and nights. Although there were a couple of hairy situations, he didn’t get stabbed or beaten up, or even hurt, thank the Lord.  Gave away some clothes. Shared the love of Jesus with a lot of hurting people. And had his life forever changed.

And, me? Well, I felt ashamed at my lack of trust in the Lord. This was probably the greatest test of faith I had had in my entire Christian walk, and I had failed miserably, worrying and doubting and questioning God for three days.

But, I also learned a very valuable lesson through it all. I found out it is so easy to tell someone else — as I have done hundreds of times over the years — to just put everything, all your worries, in God’s hands, and trust Him to work it out.

To just have faith.

But, when it happened to me, when it was my life, when I was powerless to do anything but just to trust Him, when I was the one who had to stand on faith, and faith alone, I found out it’s a totally different ballgame. 

 "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5, NASB)  

-joebib 

From time to time we have people stop by our blog here and ask some basic questions as to who we are and what we are doing. Recently, Scott, made this comment:

Who started this website? I'm just curious. Has City Bible Church become "all about the money"? Does pastor Frank really talk about tithing all the time? How do you know? How many times did you (the creator/creators) attend CBC? Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

Well Scott, here are the answers to your questions:

Who started this website?

Catalyst & Reformed Pope Morton

Has City Bible Church become "all about the money"?

I wouldn't say "ALL about the money", but prosperity (in a modern day American sense of the word) is very important to them.

Does pastor Frank really talk about tithing all the time?

I believe the current ratio is 1 in every 4 sermons is on giving money to the church (not necessarily on "tithing" but certainly on giving money to CBC). Remember, they speak on "Faith Harvest" every November through January, so there is ¼ of the year's sermons right there. Does that qualify as "all the time"?

How do you know?

The sermons are posted online and sadly, I listen to a large number of them.

How many times did you (the creator/creators) attend CBC?

Lets see, I personally attended BT/CBC from 1993-2003 so let me break this down.

10 years of weekly Sunday Morning sermons = 520 Sunday Services

10 years of weekly Sunday Evening sermons, I probably attended every other Sunday =  260 Sunday Evening Services

5 years of weekly Youth Group Sermons = 260 Wednesday Night Services

 4 years of Weekly Chapel during High School = 208 Monday or Friday Morning Services

7 years of bi-monthly cell group (formerly Life Group) meetings = 182 small group services.

3 Years of Summer Camp (1 full week and 2 half weeks…I was kicked out halfway through the last 2 years I attended camp) = 30 Camp Services

6 years of Winter Youth Conferences (First as Conquest then as Generation Unleashed) = 54 Conference Services

3 years of Presbytery Services = 20 Prophetic Services

and

10 years of "special" prayer services, conferences, dramatic productions, weddings, etc. = 50 services

For a grand total of 1,584 times that I have attended CBC…that, by the way, is enough times to attend one service every day for almost 4-1/2 years.

I am so embarrassed.

For further research on the subject click here, here, here, here, and here. You should also read all "Faith Harvest" posts, and finish by reading all the posts in the Pastor Hank and Sermons categories.

I hope I have been of some help.

A while back, one of the sisters on the blog mentioned in passing that she had a hard time justifying her lifestyle, in regard to having (nice) stuff.

I know exactly what she meant. I, too, have felt a bit guilty at times about what I have in the way of personal possessions. I mean, all you have to do is read about what believers in other countries are going through, just to survive each day, and you wonder why we have so much here in America. Can it be attributed to a mere coincidence, or is it the hand of God?

When I was younger, in my 20s-30s, it wasn't as much of a consideration, as the financial constraints of trying to provide for a wife and three children themselves forced me to keep my "stuff" down to a bare minimum. I bought the cheapest of everything I personally needed ($10 tennies at K-Mart), and then a bit nicer stuff for what the kids needed, within reason and practicality.

But, lately, now that my children are all grown and out on their own (hurrah!), and the finances are flowing a bit more freely, I find myself acquiring nicer "stuff." Instead of buying older trucks, like I did for years, I now buy brand new trucks, when a good, used truck would probably work just as well. And that's not all. On this last one, I also threw on a nice, loud Flowmaster, just so when I rev up the motor, it will rumble. Now, why did I do that? The Flowmaster provides only negligible benefits as to efficiency, but scores serious bonus points for oozing power.

I wonder…is it from a root of pride?

What about our SUV? Did we really need leather seats? Are they actually more functional than cloth seats, or are they a subconscious attempt at having a status symbol? I find myself scrunching down at stoplights when someone in the next car looks over at us. Guilty conscience, no doubt.

I have also noticed this with our road bicycles. We have several, and they are all expensive. We do use them all the time, putting several thousand miles a year on them, and hey, one needs to stay in shape, doesn't one? Not only that, one should buy quality products that won't break down all the time, and end up costing more, right? Sounds good to me.

Still though, a Pee-Wee-Herman-cheapo-nerd-bike will get me from point A to point B just fine. Admittedly with just a bit more laughter and pointing along the way, but who can't use a little more humility? 

I do give regularly to help support various worthy causes in the Lord's work, so it's not that He is getting shortchanged. But I also know how fickle one's desires can be, and how easy it is to justify our actions with reason and logic, without taking the time to look at things with an honest and open heart.

An example of this is when Sennacherib came up against Jerusalem to destroy it in 2 Kings 18 — he says "the LORD" told him to do it. It seems possible he really did believe God was helping him do that, and yet, he was dead wrong.

And I'm sure these preachers with their personal Lear jets, $1000 suits, limousines, pillared mansions, and 24k gold doorknobs attribute it all to "the hand of God." Amen.

I guess what I am getting at is this: can this stuff truly be considered the Lord's "blessing" in one's life, or is it simply the fruit of our catering to the flesh?

I don't know. Maybe it's a natural by-product of the living-in-California-thing.

Anyone else feel this way?

-joebibstudent

It was Monday and the start of a new job in Fairfield, CA. I noticed we had a new guy, and as it was still early, he was just kind of standing around. No one seemed to be talking to him, so I went over and introduced myself. He said his name was Mark, and was from Vallejo, just down the freeway a bit. Seemed like a nice guy, slender, kinda quiet, maybe about 30 years old, or so. 

Over the next couple of days, I went out of my way to talk to him some more, here and there, nothing too deep, just chitchat really. Finally, on Friday, I asked him if he wouldn't mind having lunch with me. He said, "Sure." 

After a bit of small talk, I said to him, "Mark, do you mind if I ask you something?" He said, "No, go ahead." I said, "Do you believe in miracles?" This is one of the questions I've used over the years in sharing the Lord with people. 

He looked straight at me and smiled and said, "You bet I do. I'm living proof miracles exist." 

Well, I was somewhat taken aback. Most people kind of hem and haw around a bit when you ask them something like that. But not Mark…he was dead sure. 

So I asked him what he meant by that, and he shared with me this story…

Mark had grown up on a farm, and was always helping his Dad work the fields. One day, one of the pieces of machinery he was riding on got jammed up, so he turned it off, and he jumped down to the ground to see if he could fix it. But when he jumped off, he miscalculated and came down on one of the blades, which tore a deep cut right through the inside of his thigh. Mark instantly cried out in pain and collapsed on the ground, his leg spurting blood. He screamed out for his father, who was in the farmhouse, a short ways off.

"Dad!"

"Dad!!"  

His father came rushing out of the house to see what all the commotion was about. Seeing his son lying on the ground next to the big machine, he began sprinting towards him. As he got close enough to Mark to see what had happened, and all the blood which by now was starting to go everywhere, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and bolted back for the house.  

Mark thought, "Good, he's going back for bandages."  

He told me he thought to himself at this time that he might die, and it scared him. His mind began to wonder. He thought of his family, his mom and brothers.

He then heard the screen door of the house slam, and he lifted his head up and saw his father running wildly towards him. He was carrying something, but it didn't look like white bandages. As he got closer, Mark saw what was in his hand.  

It was his Dad's Bible. 

He rushed up and collapsed on his knees next to Mark. He opened the old Bible and began turning the pages frantically. He finally found the place he was looking for, and with shaking hands and trembling voice, began to read these words:  

"Thou wast cast out in the open field…and when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live." (Ezekiel 16:5-6)  

Mark laid his head back on the ground, and began to pray, "Please, Lord, don't let me die!" He was getting so light-headed, that as he looked up to the sky everything began to swirl and fade in and out of focus.

His father was by now almost screaming out the words, repeating them over and over…

"I saw thee in thine own blood,  

"I said unto thee, Live, 

"I said unto thee, Live, 

"Live…Live…Live!" 

He didn't know how much time had passed. It began to grow quiet. Mark seemed to feel a sense of peace begin to flood over him, and he noticed the pain in his leg was going away. His fear gave way to a strange tranquility. He wondered to himself if this was what it felt like to die. He felt something, a pressure, on his thigh, and looked up to see if his dad had put his hand there to stop the blood.

But his father was, by now, laying next to him facedown on the ground, with his face buried in the open Bible, weeping softly, his out-stretched hands clenching at the dirt. 

He glanced at his thigh to see what it might look like. It was strange, but Mark was feeling so peaceful, he almost didn't care how badly it might be mangled. 

Although his pants were torn wide open, his leg wasn't mangled at all. Just a deep cut.

And it had stopped bleeding.

_____________________________

Later that afternoon, after his Dad had carried him back into the house, and he was laying on the sofa, Mark commented to his father that when he first saw him, he thought he had turned back to the house to go get some bandages. His father told him the way he could see the blood was squirting out, he knew they would've done no good anyway. All he could do was turn to God. 

A lot of people will tell you that the Bible is just a book, like any other, that it isn't relevant for our day. They will tell you that it shouldn't be called "God's Word." I mean, after all, how can we know for sure, since science and archaeology contradict it, right? Oh, well yes, they admit, it may contain a few wise sayings, with a little truth sprinkled here and there, but a lot of the stuff in it is just not true at all. It's mostly just a collection of nice old stories and tales. Nothing special really. 

But don't ever say that to Mark or his Dad. They know better. 

-joebib     

I have been waiting a year to write this blog post, ever since I read that The City Church (of Seattle, Washington) spent 1.4 million on a rowhouse in Washington DC.

Here are the real estate statistics for the zipcode (20003) where the rowhouse is located. These statistics tell you the average property value of homes bought and sold in the Washington DC metro area from September 2006 (when the City Church purchased the rowhouse) to September 2007.

Total Sold Dollar Volume:  -52.63%

Average Sold Price:  -20.63%

Median Sold Price:  -27.36%

If you look closely you will see that the median price for a home bought in September 2006 dropped 27%, year over year. Which means the City Church lost 27% of the value of their rowhouse in just one year.

And 27% of 1.4 million is…. …well, you guessed it… a whole hell of a lot of money.

You see Wendell Smith bought his little home at the peak of the market, in one of the most over-valued residential markets in the country.

And in two years, when this property has dropped another 20% in value, and Barack Obama is President of the United States, and the Democrats have overwhelming control of Congress, and Wendell Smith's goal of being an influential person in DC is completely moot…

…it is then that I will get down on my knees, and say,

"Dear Jesus, thank you for being a Just and Wonderful God who despises the proud and gives grace to the humble. You have given me more joy than I can possibly imagine, and for that I will always love you. And thank you for your wonderful sense of humor, it please me so much.

Sincerely, your servant,

-Justin."

Ian, recently wrote in this comment in regard to Frank Damazio's sermon series about the "Surplus Anointing"

So-far the surplus message has been really great! The whole premise of the surplus series is to get the blessing of God in someones life, so that they can be a blessing to those around them (and NO that does not always mean monetarily). I think it could be taken out of context and called "prosperity teaching". But there hasn't been anything of the likes. I think the world is filled with oppressed and poor people and that we are in many ways oppressed and poor ourselves. However, as God brings us out of our depravity and into freedom He wants to use us as instruments to bring His healing and freedom to others. This is what I've been getting out of the surplus messages so far

Ian, I really (and honestly) appreciate you writing in and telling us how you have enjoyed Frank's sermon series on the "Surplus Anointing".

There are a couple of issues I have with this series. First, Frank frequently says "You can't give what you don't have" and makes it sound like we (Christians) are unable to help others until we receive a special anointing (surplus) from God. And it is only then that we will be able to help others.

Personally, I believe that we all received the "Surplus Anointing" when Christ died on the cross for our sins. This is all the Surplus we will ever need. If we decide to wait until we receive "more than enough" to start helping others we will likely never do anything.  

Here is a better sermon for you:

Christ gave you all you need through Salvation now go help others. Don't sit and think you aren't good enough, or don't have enough, God's grace makes you good enough and gives you more than you need. When you fully understand "grace" you realize that you are instantly a "Super Surplus Person".

Another problem I have with many of PF's sermons is that he rarely tells you HOW to do the things he wants you to do. Mostly, he just hypes you up on WHAT he wants you to do.

Yes Frank, we all want MORE, we all want to HELP others, we all want SURPLUS, but HOW FRANK…HOW do we get it? Interestingly enough, in this series, he actually tries to tell you . Listen to this.

In order to receive this "Surplus Anointing" Frank wants you to:

1.  Stretch 
2.  Reach
3.  Pick up your mantle
4.  Breakthrough
5.  Ask
6.  Dig a New Well
7. Stretch

I am not making any of that up. Seriously. This is Frank's idea of "Biblical Instruction"…generic and random words that sound nice, but don't actually mean anything.

Frank, you want me to "Stretch"…stretch what? And after stretching I am supposed to "Reach"? I guess that makes sense, stretch first that way you won't pull any muscles…thanks.

Then "Pick up my mantle"…what the hell is that? Is it a Surplus mantle? Wait…surplus mantle(?)… now I'm talking crazy. This is getting confusing.

Ok, "Breakthrough"…that sounds nice, I think I'll try that…but wait…what am I breaking through…ok, how about I just "Ask", I can do that. I'll "Ask" for the "Surplus Anointing", but if that doesn't work then what? Uh…lets see… "Dig a New Well"…um Frank….WTF…I live in the city and if I start digging any wells I'm gonna get in trouble…this better be worth it.

In all honesty Ian, can you tell me HOW to get this anointing? It sounds nice, not Biblical, but nice. So how IAN, how do I get this anointing.

By the way, Frank does tell you what an anointing is in his 9/30/07 sermon, I don't have time to get into that, I'm busy looking for a shovel.