Grace for Jim Bakker

dustinbryson11 Comments

Jim Bakker is a good man, there I said it. Yeah, he had the whole PTL scandal and I am not excusing his actions but when people are face to face with grace it changes them. This is the very thing that happened to Jim Bakker.

If you remember anything about the late 80’s you probably remember the scandal that rocked Christianity to it’s core. The ‘Golden Boy’ Jim Bakker lost everything because of an extra marital affair and was then arrested for fraud. I wasn’t even a Christian at the time and I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember thinking ‘that holy guy who asked everybody for money on TV got caught’. I thought he got what he deserved.

Fast forward 20 years. To tell you the truth, I haven’t thought that much about Jim over that time frame, I mean who could blame me, it’s been a long time and after all I do have a life. So it was a bit of a surprise when I hit play on my ipod to listen to a sermon by Jim’s son Jay and Jay flipped it up on me. He introduced his old man, and Jim stepped up to the mic in a smoked filled bar (Jay pastors a church that meets in a Brooklyn bar) to preach a sermon that would stir my soul.

He spoke about how for the first time in his life he understands grace. He goes on to explain that he has only been ‘living in grace for the past three weeks’ and it has radically rocked his world. He describes how he always thought he had to measure up, for the audience, for his family, for God. He never understood that he was ultimately loved and there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing he could do to be loved more, and nothing he could do to be loved less. He was a man who preached to millions and didn’t even get it. He was bound, and then he found freedom!

I can see why people flocked to hear him speak. His voice quivers at just the right moment and he is so transparent he is invisible. It is a wonderful thing to see a man restored. We all make our mistakes and thanfully, grace is the gasoline of life.

Isn’t it a wonderful thing that our God is in the forgiveness business.

Looking For The Foot

Rob Woodrum1 Comment

footprint.jpg“It happen’d one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceedingly surpriz’d with the Print of a Man’s naked Foot on the Shore, which was very plain to be seen in the Sand: I stood like one Thunder-struck, or as if I had seen an Apparition; I listen’d, I look’d round me, I could hear nothing, nor see any Thing, I went up to a rising Ground to look farther, I went up the Shore and down the Shore, but it was all one, I could see no other Impression but that one, I went to it again to see if there were any more, and to observe if it might not be my Fancy; but there was no Room for that, for there was exactly the very Print of a Foot, Toes, Heel, and every Part of a Foot; how it came thither, I knew not, nor could in the least imagine.” – Robinson Crusoe, chapter 18 

In Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel “Robinson Crusoe”, there is this famous scene where the main character, Crusoe, stumbles upon a human footprint in the sand.  He had thought, up until this point, that he was alone on the island on which he was stranded.  His reaction to this find is one of dismay and fear.  First he runs and hides in his cave/shelter for three days, fearful of what such a find meant to him.  But after the initial shock wore off, he became bolder, and began the adventure of trying to find the foot that made the print.

 

It makes me think about the Bible.

 

(Doesn’t everything?)

 

(No!….I don’t know, maybe.  Stay out of this!)

 

As human beings, we are a lot like Robinson Crusoe.  By and large, we start our conscious life with a sense of isolation.  We wander through the wreckage of the fall, wondering how we will survive, hardly thinking that there is anything outside our own thoughts and procedures. 

Then one day, we stumble upon The Footprint.  We work to ignore it…we are, if honest, somewhat frightened by it, and especially the implication it brings…that we are not alone.  The Word of God is the footprint in the sand of this earth that reveals to us that we are not alone.

 

The Footprint itself is quite revealing.  To study the footprint we can learn a lot of things…how many toes, how large or small the stride, how deep the imprint is informs of weight.  We can even tell how fast or slow the movement was when the footprint was made.  But we must not stop there.

 

What if Crusoe had discovered the footprint, and become obsessed with it as an end in itself?  What if Crusoe had measured and studied the print, then built barricades around it to preserve it from being tampered with.  What if he’d measured how far his dwelling was from the print, and moved his dwelling to a closer proximity to the print, in order to be more aware of its presence?  What if Crusoe had become so familiar with that footprint that he could reproduce it over and over…where he could carve an image of it in wood or stone.  What if he had made a motif from its likeness, and wore it on his clothing or hung it around his neck.  What if he spent all of his spare time examining the footprint, trying to discover more details about the print he may have missed?

 

What if he had done all of those things……..but NEVER went to look for the FOOT?  His story would have been a mere tedium, and all the adventures that later ensued would have been missed.

 

The danger which is inherent in a modern endeavor to study the Bible (an endeavor you surely know by now that I passionately encourage) is that we must always remember that we are not trying to catalogue information about the print…..we are looking for The Foot!  The Footprint provides some very important information that is helpful to us, but the most important information of all is what direction we should go when setting off on our adventure to find the Foot.

 

To learn about the Bible, but never live what the Bible reveals, results in a life of religious tedium and its no wonder we seem so short supplied in joy.  Let’s look at The Footprint and get our direction….then lets go on the adventure of finding The Foot!

 

 

(By the by, thanks to all who have expressed such kind thoughts to me during my time away. It goes a long way toward helping an insecure guy feel loved-thank you!)

Book Club INFO

dustinbryson1 Comment

Hello all you Wonderwhaters!

We finished up Brennan Mannings “Ragamuffin Gospel” and Monday we will be starting our new book “Velvet Elvis” by Rob Bell.  I hope you will all swing by Books A Million and pick up a copy!  Click the “BOOK CLUB” link in the navigation bar above to check out the suggested reading schedule and date for our next meeting.

You are going to dig this book!

House of Prayer

Luke Benson5 Comments

In Matthew 21:13 Jesus says “my house shall be called a house of prayer”.

During his ministry on earth Jesus stressed a great deal of emphasis on prayer. He taught the importance thru words, like when he taught the disciples how to pray in Matthew 6 and in actions when He was often seen praying in public. We also see in the Bible that He took time alone for prayer. either way we see that Jesus placed a very high importance on prayer.

Jesus also taught on the power of united prayer in Matthew 18:19-20 and the first thing we see the newly born church doing in the book of Acts is forming a prayer group in verses 1:11-14.

So why all the emphasis on prayer?

Jesus knew that if the church were to truly become a house of prayer we would see ourselves and members of the body:

1. More focused of the kingdom of heaven and thinking less about the things of this world.

2. More focused on praising God for His provision and less focused on our own desires.

3. More focused on repentance and expressing Godly sorrow than fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.

Most importantly I think Jesus knew that as a church focused on prayer we would see prideful ness replaced by humble humility and insensitivity replaced by loving service to God and His people.

Prayer changes us and the way we look at things.

Answered prayer is one of the strongest pieces of tangible evidence of God working in our midst . And it is a glorious thing to see souls turning to Christ, healing and provision as a result of our petitions to God.

A church body that becomes “a house of prayer” would find its members strengthened in faith and trust that God is real and He is at work in our lives. We would find it easier to give our testimonies about Christ, find peace through trials and stand firm when faced with temptation because of witnessing answered prayer.

Imagine our church body here in Panama city beach becoming the house of prayer Jesus was speaking of.

Our perception of God.

Luke BensonLeave a comment

 Perhaps one the most destructive forces working against us in our relationship with God is a misinterpretation of scripture leading to a misunderstanding of who God is and who we are in Him. Our understanding of who God is and how He sees us shapes our lives dramatically. Just imagine for a minute that walking into any room in the normal course of any day we see God seated in front of us. What is the reaction on His face when he sees us? The reaction we imagine on Gods face at that very moment tells us a lot about our perception of God. Does He jump from the chair with joy running to hug us and tell us how He has longed to be with us? Is He sitting there tapping His fingers on the table saying we have a lot of explaining to do? Is His head hung in utter disappointment? Knowing the answer to this question tells us a lot about how we see ourselves in our relationship with God. OK now that we have formed an image of God’s reaction to us in our own mind how does it line up with scripture? Does our image match what the Bible has revealed to us about God and our place in the story He is telling?

 

 

 We can isolate Scripture to say just about anything and people often do.  Some religious leaders may do it in order to establish control over people or for personal gain.We could develop a constant fear of losing our salvation or think Gods needs our money. There is also a danger of falling prey to “folk” theology when we believe things like “God helps those who help themselves” or “cleanliness is next to Godliness”. Those aren’t even in the Bible. So in your own mind what is Gods reaction when you walk into that room where He is sitting? Does it match the story God is telling in scripture?

 

 It may be the most important question we ever ask ourselves.

Slogan Theology

Rob Woodrum4 Comments

So, in perusing some of the blogs and boards I visit frequently, someone posted a link to The Advertising Slogan Generator.  It’s one of those fascinating little online oddities that help wile away the hours for bored office workers.  

Here’s how it works:  Type in any word into the field provided, and the program spits out a clever slogan.  I’m assuming the whole thing is designed to tickle the disenfranchised, those who are desensitized to marketing.  It’s sort of a “man behind the curtain” thing…revealing that most advertising slogans are so inane that random generation of words are about as effective as what Madison Avenue offers us regularly.

 

So I typed in Jesus.

And here’s what I got.

rj-2-urs.jpg

time4j.jpg

get-j-out.jpg

 

You know what’s really sad about that?  As absurd as those slogans are…I could easily imagine a best-selling book with those titles.  We Americans…rather, we American Christians seem to love slogans.  In fact…I would almost go so far as to say that mainstream church culture has a certain “slogan theology”.  That is, we like the aspects of Jesus we can easily sell.

Meditate on the revelation of God, the Bible?  No way…just ask “what would Jesus do?”

Struggle over God’s will through anguished prayer? Heck no, pray the Prayer of Jabez!

Lay down your will, surrender your rights and live sacrificially for the Kingdom?  Not a chance…instead, live “Your best life NOW!”

 

But why stop there?  I could write quick books that have catchy titles now that I have the slogan generator!  How about these:

“Tired of the same old grind, tired of not getting ahead?…You need to MOVE AT THE SPEED OF JESUS!”

 

“That old timey religion got you bored?  We’ll teach you what we’ve learned about presenting a cool version of the gospel, because WE DO JESUS RIGHT!”

 

“THE WORLD’S LOCAL JESUS, 7 steps to innovative neighborhood outreach from your cell group ministry”.

 

Slogan theology.

You heard it here first folks.

That’s because:

rob.jpg

His Big Paintbrush

dustinbryson3 Comments

Leah and I just got home from Hawaii. Yes we know we are lucky and yes we had an amazing time. We did all the touristy stuff and went to all the touristy shops. We hung out on the beach and went to a luau, and we had a blast.

In the midst of all the fun I was struck by the awesomeness of God. Not that I haven’t been in the past, I have, but this time it was different. Each day we would see beautiful birds and flowers and waves and then God would cap the day off with sunsets that would make Picasso blush at his inability to create beauty in comparison. It was as if God just pulled out His paintbrush and went to work. It’s obvious He understands the color wheel and composition and lighting, and it was as if He sat in the heavens and mixed His colors just for me. I felt tiny, I felt insignificant and I felt helpless … and I LOVED IT! It was so cool for me to remember how big our God really is. It means I don’t have to have all the answers. It means I don’t have to save the world, He already has. What a wonderful thought to remember!

Bible Survival part 3

Rob Woodrum2 Comments

Once again…sorry for the choppiness of this video…some of it is editing, some of it is because it got wonky during the digital capture…hopefully it won’t distract too much.

Here are the links I mentioned:

E-Sword

David Guzik’s Online Commentary

Bible Gateway – I forgot to mention in the video that you can listen to an AUDIO version of the Bible at this site as well, for those who don’t like to read!

Follow the Rabbi

Bible study tools on Crosswalk

If you just can’t bring yourself to read at all…you can still listen to teachings on the Bible online at a LOT of different church sites…Eastgate’s included. 

Some other teachers I would recommend are:

Mike MacIntosh ,  Jon Courson , Joe Focht or you may like Mark Driscoll

There are so many teachers who have their instruction online the list could be endless.

Have fun!