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Yesterday we were all sitting around on the porch and Ephraim (just so we are all clear, we pronounce it: *Efrum) was majorly rejoicing in his mommy’s belly.  We have seen him already moving around plenty in there but yesterday he was dancing like crazy.  Ej pulled her shirt up and we could all see him perfectly, so i was thinking, why do we say he is coming and not that he’s already here?  Obviously there is more to come,  i will soon be able to hold him and kiss him, but in reality, he is already here with us!  Reminds me of a similar reality with someone else i know…

So think about this, if Ephraim were to be “born” premature, on July 1st say, that would be his birthday and then next July 1st he would be one year old.  But if he comes on his due date, September 19th, then that is his birthday and he wouldn’t be considered a year old until next September 19th.  But in both cases he has actually existed for the same amount of time!  Don’t you think that is weird?  It sounds like we are counting wrong, like we are hinging something objective on something completely subjective or variable (we do that a lot).  Ephraim is already here and a part of our family!  You may say “well yea but”—and i would say, “get your but out of here!”  If we looked at reality objectively—and we can because Truth objectively exists, He is Messiah—i believe we would see this creation and our creator more properly, or more fully.  Have you ever just stopped to think about how inconsistently we think and reason?  Truth isn’t inconsistent, so why are we?

The Holy Spirit has been prodding and convicting me the last few months about my knowledge of the Word of God.  In Acts 2:42 we see that the birthing of the Church started with people devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching.  There are other things listed in the passage but i believe that their devotion to true teaching was the fundamental because the fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers all flowed from an understanding, a mindset or worldview.  If you disagree then examine the writings of the New Testament.  It is full of correction and exhortation.

Ecclesiastes 12:11-13 says this, “The words of the wise are like goads, and the nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.  My son, beware of anything beyond these.  Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.  The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

This passage isn’t referring to anyone who thinks he is wise but rather the one Shepherd via the writers of what we know as the Bible.  Proverbs 2:1-6 alludes to this in that wisdom and instruction and the words of insight are none other than the spoken Word of God, hence what is found and confirmed in the Holy Scriptures as revealed by the Holy Spirit.  Proverbs 1:7 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; and fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Our duty as christians is to be conformed to Truth who is Jesus Christ our Savior (Rom. 8:29) and in 2 Timothy 2:15 we see the working out of this.  ”Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” How are we to rightly handle what we do not even know or understand.  Mankind since the fall has always wanted the benefit without the labor.  How can someone who doesn’t know how to use a sickle be deemed a harvester?  We all want to quote the great commission and in our zeal go out and see instant results but the great commission was given to disciples of Christ.  Christians and disciples are the same thing however we call ourselves christians when we “accept Jesus into our heart”, in other words we adopt a title, but disciples had a much greater entrance exam, if you don’t believe me then go read Luke 14 starting in verse 25, heck go read anywhere in your Bible and you will be hard pressed to find anything that backs up that convenient theory.  Wisdom is justified by her children.  How can we go out and preach what we do not know and don’t even try and tell me that because you know John 3:16, Romans 3:23, and Romans 10:9 you know all you need to know.  Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:2 that his desire is to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that was written to believers who were ignorantly dividing and creating their own doctrines and teachings.

Romans 10:2-4 speaks of an alarming situation where zeal is embraced without the tension of wisdom.  “For I bear witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” We most definitely don’t want to find ourselves in this situation.  The remedy upon recieving salvation is found  in Ephesians 1:17 where Paul prays for the believers that the Father would give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.  We like this because we improperly assume that all we are responsible for is to sit around and pray pray pray and ask ask ask for this wisdom, revelation, and knowledge.  The truth is that these are gifts from God and cannot be manufactured by our own study or working however as we have come full circle again we see that as disciples (christians or the Church) we are to devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching.

Annie Lobert and Pastor Mark Driscoll face off with Deepak Chopra and Bishop Carlton Pearson in this intriguing discussion. This is definitely worth watching. Click here for the rest of the of the videos.

You all will have to go check out CFC’s brand-spankin new community forum!  As you can probably tell by the ridiculous adjectives i am using, i am incredibly excited about this!  I hope this will be a tool for you to get to know one another, encourage one another, challenge one another, ask questions, make comments, and provoke one another to Love and good works. Although these are huge reasons for why we have created this, it will also be a way for the CFC staff to ask for your input on a broad range of topics. So don’t hold back, speak the truth, always with love.

Impending defined is, about to happen. Our video is a poem of words and images. We felt very limited in our personal ability to accurately give convincing evidence to anyone, even slightly critical, that we could actually and permanently change the world. We opted to look back on history and observe how others have changed the world. We saw multiple situations where people have made a major difference in the world but by first changing themselves. This is something that is very obvious and fundamental. However, because we live in an age where we are bombarded with millions of factors of influence, we came to the conclusion that personal transformation is the ONLY thing that will enable us as Christians to invoke anything deeper than mere emotional influence or persuasion. We are called to make disciples and lead others to conformity to Christ therefore we must be conformed to Christ. This project has challenged us to examine ourselves, and what we really believe about our callings. The pattern given to us in the Bible always begins by introspection, and only then can we evolve into an exponential revolution. We wanted this video to be attractive to inquiring minds. We want it to invoke curiosity and not necessarily provide people with the same, cliché’ answers they have always heard. We wanted it to provoke people to discover their own answers. This is a video that must be watched multiple times to be understood, however, the video is merely a catalyst, the impending poem is our life song.  Amen.