Thursday, 25 November 2010

Our Identity – Washed in the Blood

We may not like to think about it, but the bible is full of blood and violence. If you’ve seen The Passion of the Christ, you know what Christ’s physical suffering was like. Guest speaker Reinier reminded us Tuesday that no matter how strong the movie might look, though the physical suffering was unimaginable, it only scratches the surface of Christ’s real suffering.
On the cross, Jesus was separated from His Father- His personality, His Oneness was broken. Jesus was carrying the incredible burden of the sin of every man and woman, throughout the history of mankind. Billions of people, with all their pettiness, hatred, perversion, and pride taken on Himself. He was the only person who has ever lived without sin, yet he suffered that harsh death, that incredible injustice. And the whole time, He had every bit of power to correct the injustice. With one word He could have changed His fate.
So we see Jesus suffered much. But many have suffered and died. What was so extraordinary about Christ’s suffering? How does His blood affect the whole world?
In Hebrews 9:1-28 we see that God had made a way, thousands of years ago, for His people to meet with Him. It required much blood. God gave precise instructions concerning daily, weekly, monthly, annual, and special occasion sacrifices (e.g. Lev. 1-7, 2 Chron 7).
Hebrews 9:7 “But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.”
Then Hebrews 9:12 says when Jesus came, “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”
Reinier said, “Within daily practice of offerings in Jewish culture, with lots of bloodshed, the yearly highlight was the high priest entering the inner room of the tabernacle or temple, not without blood, to get atonement for first his own sins and later the sins of the people.  The high priest is a symbol of Christ. First to be blameless himself, then to bring an offering for the people. But this offering was imperfect, not lasting.”
The difference between the high priest and Jesus Christ was, first, that Jesus was blameless, perfect, able to bring the perfect offering… “but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”
And, second, Jesus was the only possible mediator and “testator” of the new covenant. God had written a new covenant with man, a new testament, a new will. And the only way to make a will legal is for the writer himself to die.
This quote is from commentary by John Gill.
The covenant of grace, is properly a covenant to Christ, and a testament or will to His people. It is His and their Father’s will, concerning giving them both grace and glory. It consists of many gifts and legacies; in it Christ is made heir of all things, and His people are made joint heirs with Him. They are given to Him as His portion, and they have all things pertaining to life and godliness passed on the them, even all spiritual blessings.
The witnesses of it are Father, Son, and Spirit, and the seals of it are the blood of Christ and the grace of the Spirit. And this is registered in the Scriptures by holy men as notaries; and is unalterable and immutable.
And this being made, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator, who is Christ. He has various parts in this will or testament. He is the surety and Mediator of it, and He is the executor of it.

Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Epic

What could be more epic than the quest of Frodo to rid Middle-earth of evil’s power?? Maybe… backpacking Europe? Climbing Mt. Everest? Watching all three LOTR movies in a row? That’s right people. Five-hundred fifty-eight minutes of pure magic.  Only the strong persevere.

Thanks, Juice, for being a fantastic host! (Repeat after me… “Thirteen… A.” That’s “A” as in “apple.” :D)

Due to an unfortunate photo deleting incident, the only evidence that we accomplished this amazing feat is the mess we left at Juice’s.  Oh, I guess I didn’t delete all the pictures…

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Progressive Dinner!

Join us THIS TUESDAY for an exciting adventure that combines two of life’s greatest things: travel and eating!! Meet at 7pm at Sweet Surrender, but don’t be too late.  We’ll soon travel together to one house for appetizers, then we’ll all progress to a second house for another course, and dessert will be at a third location! Invite a friend, make sure you have a few tram tickets, and we’ll see you there!

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

LORD OF THE RINGS ..... MARATHON

Are you a fan of the ring…….THE LORD OF THE RINGS???!!!!!!!?

Then join us for a back-to-back-to-back showing on the big screen of the Lord of the Rings movies directed by Peter Howard!   Feel free to come and go as you please.  You don’t have to make it for the whole thing, but it should be pretty awesome!

Whew!   Also a chance to get to see Juice’s new place!  Yeah!

Here’s the scoop:
  ~ Invite your friends
  ~ Bring something to share (drinks or snacks)
  ~ Maybe bring a pillow
  ~ Come on over to ul. Szyperska 13/36

Directions:
  Trams 4, 8, and 17 all land at the tram stop called Male Garbary.
  Bus choices are many as well: 47, 63, 67, 76, 83
  Night buses: 233, 237

Get off the tram and head toward the city center (Stary Rynek) on the street named Garbary (this will be perpendicular to the road the trams follow and parallel with the Warta River).  
The first street on your left will be Szyperska.
You can take it from there! 

Again if you need help, give a call:  512 391 366!

Okay, just the facts……….!

Who:  FoF
What:  Lord of the Rings movie marathon
Why:  This will be a good question at 3am! ;)
Where:  Juice’s place; ul. Szyperska 13/36
When:  Starting at 6:30pm on Friday, November 19 and ending sometime the next morning

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

FoF Fun!!

Not your ordinary game of Uno! (Booorriiiiing.) We played Uno SWISH! Norwegian rules.
While Amy was a skilled swisher, Laine made an incredible comeback, and most of us were alternately trying to defeat the front-runners Eirik or Coralanne, it was Kristian who stayed stealthily in 2nd or 3rd, then swooped in for the victory!
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Join us next week for our student-led bible study. (Shoutout to the 4W’s!)

The Tabernacle, the Temple, and You

This week Brooke was our guest speaker, and she led us through an insightful look at the dwelling place of God.

In the time of Moses, God commanded the specifics for how the Ark of the Covenant would be built, as well as the tabernacle in which it would be housed. The Tabernacle was the portable dwelling place of God, and through it, God directed Israel. (Ex 40:33-38)

A few centuries later, God made David king, and he wanted to build a permanent structure to be God's dwelling place. David was not given the privilege, but his son Solomon built it. The Temple was a permanent structure, and it represented a promise. (See 1 Kings 8, especially vv. 56-61)

And we know that if we are Christians, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in us. (1 Corinthians 6:19)

When Jesus was on the earth, He visited the temple in Jerusalem. The holy site which represented God dwelling with Israel. Here is the account of one of the times Jesus visited the temple.
So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. The He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" Mark 11:15-17
Here's the challenge: what things in our lives would Jesus overturn and drive out?

Because our heart is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we know what fruit our lives should produce.  And it's only one fruit. The work of the Holy Spirit within us will produce all parts of the fruit!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
As Christ-followers, we have great hope because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we have an incredible inheritance, and we have a responsibility!