Truths from the Trail

People have been telling me the truth for a while now. 

A couple years ago I heard the good news ... about the Whitefish Trail. 

Mountain biking is something God used to help me understand the Good News of His grace. So hearing about a beautifully built trail meandering about the mountains of Montana brought me joy. 

I talked about this good news with anyone who experienced it first hand. 

I talked about the pros and cons of riding this trail. 

I talked about the facts and the fables. 

I talked about the Whitefish trail so much you'd think I was an expert. 

But last night was the first time I experienced it for myself. 

Everything has changed. My life is different now.

I know through experience that the Whitefish Trail is awesome. 

Today God is using mountain biking to help me understand life with Him in a whole new way once again. 

Quite often I talk about the Good News of Jesus' sacrifice for my sin.

Quite often I talk about the good and bad parts of the Church.

Quite often I talk about other people's opinions of being a disciple of Christ.

Quite often I talk about the Triune God like I'm an expert on who He is in reality.

But all too often, I am not experiencing YHWH for who He wants to be to me. 

And I fear most of us are in that place too. 

We know the theological systems of thought from A - Z and everything in between.

We know the "right" way to be a Christian and the "wrong" way to "do church." 

We know the "best practices" of spiritual growth and can explain them to anyone.

We know the truth but have not let it set us free. 

The Bible uses the Greek "ginosko" to describe a type of knowledge that comes through real, personal experience. It gets at a deep intimacy that Abba, Yeshua, and Ruach Elohim (Hb. = Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) want us to have with Him. It is a different kind of knowing than that which is only in our head and experienced in our conversations. 

Jesus wants you to spend time getting to know Him.

Are you like me and find yourself talking more about Jesus and His love than you do truly taking it in and letting Him transform your life?

How does God want you to experience His grace and know Him more fully today?

Do you need to spend less time talking with your friends about theology and start putting into practice living in the presence of God? 

I know I do. 

Be Transformed-- Pastor Jason Gudim

I've never done this before:

I want you to stop. I want you to take 17 minutes out of your crazy busy day and listen to a sermon that I heard this past Sunday. Please. I know you're busy (Believe me, I know busy. That's why I'm writing at 11:20 at night to make sure I write before it's officially Friday!), but I beg of you, listen to this sermon. Yes, it's by my brother, but that's not a little sister plug. My brother, Pastor Jason Gudim, is preaching through Romans at his church Faith Free Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, MN. It is a clear display of the Gospel. These are my sermon notes as well, but please take a listen.

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." --Romans 12:1-2

Here is the link to the audio recording of the sermon.

Be Transformed-- click here!

HE MUST INCREASE, I MUST DECREASE.

1. The Gospel changes our identity.

• Not a life of service or how we present our life to God to show how good we are.
• "Living sacrifice"-- Someone who has already been slain 
• Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
• You present yourself to God by His own mercy
• We aren't holy or acceptable in ourselves
• Through Jesus, in His death and resurrection, we are made holy!
• The only thing we bring to the table is our sin and shame. God sees Christ's perfection.

2. The Gospel changes our activity

• Worship is what God does for us-- He allows us to be in awe of Him. 
• He allows us to dwell on the Gospel.
• Look at the worship service-- the only part about me is the confession of sin.
• It's all about Him!

3. The Gospel changes our ability

• Nothing that this world has to offer is worth imitating, but we're addicted to it. We fail.
• Be transformed-- passive verb-- it happens to us.
• Be something other than what you were 
• A butterfly doesn't work to be transformed!
• A new creation-- not a better version. 
• We don't need better discipline or more teaching, we need more of Jesus and less of ourselves.
• Living sacrifice-- already happened, still living. Whoa. 

Eyes Open?

Last week my eyes were opened. I had the opportunity to work as an assistant audio tech at a large guitar festival here in Northwest Montana. It was an incredible time! I learned a lot about audio, had some great times enjoying God's creation, and was able to enjoy lots of good music.

But something else happened as well. I lived in a host home for the week of the festival, and I had three roommates. These three men are all older gentlemen, and are very open about discussing spiritual things. They were also the majority of whom I interacted with closely, for the entire week.

One of them previously died of a heart attack and was brought back to life. He told us, "There's nothing to fear on the other side, only peace, colors you'd never imagine, joy, and shekinah glory."

Another one talked to me about how he discusses with his angels the tough decisions in life. He essentially bargains with them. And at one time, in so doing, his daughter's dog was 'healed'. Along with those things, he wears a piece of jewelry to declare his allegiance to his personal angel. Or spirit guide.

The third told me he didn't see much difference between Buddism and Christianity. He went on to tell me "I believe in Jesus... But not all of that religion stuff, like dying on the cross. I don't think He would have done that."

Interacting with these men was very eye opening. You see, I'd forgotten I live in a world which is headed for eternal destruction. What really hit this home for me was when one the groups of students performed the song "Highway to Hell" by AC DC. Here are the lyrics:

Living easy, living free
Season ticket on a one-way ride
Asking nothing, leave me be
Taking everything in my stride
Don't need reason, don't need rhyme
Ain't nothing I would rather do
Going down, party time
My friends are gonna be there too
I'm on the highway to hell
No stop signs, speed limit
Nobody's gonna slow me down
Like a wheel, gonna spin it
Nobody's gonna mess me round
Hey Satan, payed my dues
Playing in a rocking band
Hey Momma, look at me
I'm on my way to the promised land
I'm on the highway to hell
(Don't stop me)
And I'm going down, all the way down
I'm on the highway to hell

The audience went wild when this song was played. This is reality. Our world is on a highway to eternal destruction. I was convicted, because I had forgotten this. Somehow I had ended up going to church Sunday, Bible study Tuesday, and had forgotten I was to go and make disciples. My eyes have been opened. This has caused me to be hungrier for God's Word, spend much more time in prayer, and cry out to God for the salvation of those who I know don't know Jesus as their savior.

Last week was a huge step towards having my eyes open. I'm very thankful Jesus brought me through it.

Are your eyes open?