Sunday, September 10, 2006
Rob Bell's Rain & the False Twisted Idea
I think Rob Bell rocks. I love his nooma video series 'rain'
My church is doing the 'Dust of the Rabbi' series for Sunday School and we're doing the The Truth Project in the evenings.
Anyway, in the evening discussion some things were said, about do we believe that what we believe (Christ, the Gospel etc.) is really real?
Some folk (good folk mind you) said some pious sounding stuff like "Well, I can't say I really believe it, or I'd live different". Yikes! What is the gospel?
Well, Rob Bell talks about it in the DVD of his "Rain" See the Bolded part of text from the series below:
"It's interesting. 'cause if you look up the word "cry," look in the scriptures, you find this word comes up over and over and over again--like even in the book of Psalms, just the book of Psalms. If you start reading through, it speaks over and over and over again of crying....
...of crying out to God. And God says these amazing things like
"When you cry out to me, I listen."
He even says, "I cannot ignore the cries of someone who is afflicted."
It's like if I'm hurting, lost, soaking wet, scared, confused, God says:
"You cry out and I hear." God even says that when you cry, He's close to the broken hearted, he's close to those who cry out and admit they're scared, lost, soaking wet, and confused.
See, there is this false, twisted idead out there among religious people that somehow you gotta have it all together to have a relationship with God. That like somehow God's only looking for people who have no problems, and have it all nailed down, and can put on like the happy face all the time.
And yet the Scriptures speak directly against this kind of thinking.
I mean Jesus is even just straight ahead when He says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavey laden."
I mean, the essence of Salvation is crying out to God and admitting I don't have it all together. It's admiting I am lost, I am hurting and this sinful nature that I carry around with me has really screwed things up for me and God if you don't show me the way home, if you don't fix things, if you don't step in, I am dying here. This kind of thing is all throughout the Scriptures.
It's over and over again God says to us -- When you come to me you come to me with all your problems, you come to me all screwed up, all messed. Let me take care of it.
Jesus even sets out looking for peole and he even says this, he says:
"I'm not looking ofr the healthy. I came for the sick."
Check out Rob Bell. Either his book Velvet Elvis or His site - Nooma
I'shalom
My church is doing the 'Dust of the Rabbi' series for Sunday School and we're doing the The Truth Project in the evenings.
Anyway, in the evening discussion some things were said, about do we believe that what we believe (Christ, the Gospel etc.) is really real?
Some folk (good folk mind you) said some pious sounding stuff like "Well, I can't say I really believe it, or I'd live different". Yikes! What is the gospel?
Well, Rob Bell talks about it in the DVD of his "Rain" See the Bolded part of text from the series below:
"It's interesting. 'cause if you look up the word "cry," look in the scriptures, you find this word comes up over and over and over again--like even in the book of Psalms, just the book of Psalms. If you start reading through, it speaks over and over and over again of crying....
...of crying out to God. And God says these amazing things like
"When you cry out to me, I listen."
He even says, "I cannot ignore the cries of someone who is afflicted."
It's like if I'm hurting, lost, soaking wet, scared, confused, God says:
"You cry out and I hear." God even says that when you cry, He's close to the broken hearted, he's close to those who cry out and admit they're scared, lost, soaking wet, and confused.
See, there is this false, twisted idead out there among religious people that somehow you gotta have it all together to have a relationship with God. That like somehow God's only looking for people who have no problems, and have it all nailed down, and can put on like the happy face all the time.
And yet the Scriptures speak directly against this kind of thinking.
I mean Jesus is even just straight ahead when He says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavey laden."
I mean, the essence of Salvation is crying out to God and admitting I don't have it all together. It's admiting I am lost, I am hurting and this sinful nature that I carry around with me has really screwed things up for me and God if you don't show me the way home, if you don't fix things, if you don't step in, I am dying here. This kind of thing is all throughout the Scriptures.
It's over and over again God says to us -- When you come to me you come to me with all your problems, you come to me all screwed up, all messed. Let me take care of it.
Jesus even sets out looking for peole and he even says this, he says:
"I'm not looking ofr the healthy. I came for the sick."
Check out Rob Bell. Either his book Velvet Elvis or His site - Nooma
I'shalom
